


When You Say Left I Go Right

by BlueRue



Series: Left or Right [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swapfell (Undertale), Chapter 3 is very sad, F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, It's pretty heavy until we hit the later chapters, M/M, Multi, Poor Reader, Ratings might go up, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, Swapfell AU, Swapfell Papyrus (Undertale), Swapfell Sans (Undertale), You're a good person, but they're not all bad, just difficult, more tag to come, papyrus is a perv, reader is female, sans is salt, the bros are assholes, things go down a lot before they go up, very slow burn, you just wanted to do something good and now you're dodging bullets left and right, your life is suddenly very difficult come to think about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-09-23 17:37:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17084723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRue/pseuds/BlueRue
Summary: You felt a fire in your chest, a tug, a pull.You knew you had to go.You moved to Ebott city to study. You wanted nothing more than to meet monsters and get to know what they were really like.  It's safe to say that you get more than you bargained for when you witness the murder of your monster neighbors by a secret anti-monster organization. It's a desperate situation for monsters as your testimony might just let them get a shot at basic rights. you’re placed under witness protection and must adapt as your life suddenly is turned upside down by not one, but two extremely rude and incredibly dangerous skeletons.Of course, your new bodyguards did not count on you being their missing soulmate.





	1. Remember to buy cream!

**Author's Note:**

> Heya!! So I've been on hiatus for forever but the other night this idea just hit me like a train and I had to write! So yeah, i hope you all enjoy and that i'll be able to finish it someday because damn, this is just stuck in my head right now.

The frost came early this year. Winter was going to be cold and you knew your bills would go through the roof accordingly in an effort to keep your small apartment warm and comfy.

You breathed out a heavy sigh, watching as a small puff of air evaporated in front of your face.

Classes were out for today and the sun could be seen setting lazily between the skyscrapers and cityscape in the distance. You had to catch the bus early each morning to make it to class on time but living on the outskirts of town meant that your rent was more affordable and there were plenty of part-time jobs nearby.

You tucked your jacket around you tighter and ducked into the small rundown grocery store. Throwing a casual wave in the direction of the bird monster behind the register you trotted over to the fridge at the back.

The monster gave a grunt in greeting, he was never much of a conversationalist and while you had been scared witless the first time you saw him, - he had growled and glared wide-eyed at you and you had in turn taken in his sharp claws and large fangs with a shocked yelp when he had bared them at you, so you reasoned that your reaction had been fair- you had learned over time he was rather peaceful and just pretty awkward at conversation, which was why he chose not to engage most of the time.

That, and humans made him weary.

Six years ago monsters had emerged from under Mount Ebott. While a lot of people had been interested and rather optimistic, most humans had, of course, gone into a wild panic, almost starting a full-scale war against the battle-ready creatures who was practically fleeing their old home with a desperation that told everyone that they would **_not_** be backing down.

It had been a tense first couple of months but over time an agreement had been brokered between the monsters and humans. It was rather simple really; no monster was allowed to cause any human harm and in return, humans would not straight up bomb the mountain and surrounding areas where the monsters had set up temporary camps.

Saying the monsters were distrustful of humans was probably an understatement.

In the span of a year the monsters had formed their own political organization, led by no other but their queen and their human ambassador. They fought for justice and strived for them to have the same basic rights as humans did, stating that all they wanted was to live free lives under an open sky. Now that doesn’t sound like too much to demand but nothing is ever easy and even today, five years later, monsters are still treated as the lowest class citizen, with low paying jobs, bad living spaces and they weren’t even allowed inside certain stores, restaurants, and other public buildings.

You rubbed your temple and thought about when you had been taught about segregation in high school and not for the first time you wondered if the whole world had gone back in time and nobody was realizing how you’ve already dealt with this and it was morally and ethically wrong to deny anyone anything so basic.

It left a sour taste in your mouth.

You had been ecstatic at the news of monsters, you had watched every news update and had actively followed multiple blogs and forums to keep yourself updated on what was happening.

Your parents had been terrified when you announced you were going to move there.

They had _begged_ you not to go to Ebott city to study, they had tried talking and bribing and threaten but you were deadest on being in the middle of the action and learn exactly what monsters were like. Something in you had said you _needed_ to be here, pulling you along even when all of your doubts and insecurities about it rose to the surface.

And it was this feeling in your gut that had convinced you to move all of your future plans to Ebott City and rent an apartment in the most monster-heavy populated place of the town.

That had been a year ago.

That year had literally flown by. Right when you had moved in you had faced a bit of harassment, the monsters didn’t understand what you were doing there and thought you were either there to bother them or use them to find your way onto the Monday news.

You had been determined to show them that they were wrong about you, that while you were curious you were not like they thought you were. You had a small flat on the second floor, right next to a three-room apartment being occupied by a rather large bunny family, the Ruthdales. The mother had refused to let you near her or any of her four kids and the dad had looked rather scary as he glared you down with a scarred, battle-worn face and extended claws.

You had left them and your other neighbor, a bear monster that you hadn’t worked up the courage to talk to, a gift basket out of good faith. And from then on you had focused on your own business of getting into your schoolwork and getting a job to pay the bills.

The first few months had been rough and after having your door vandalized multiple times, been growled at and threatened, among other things, and even having your apartment wrecked on one special occasion, you had almost thrown in the towel in on them.

Then you had done something insane.

You had turned your back to someone ready to knock your teeth out.

You had just gotten off the first bus towards home, about halfway on your way; you were tired and were not looking forward to washing your door down _again_ , but as you passed the nearby school you heard a faint sound. A small crying that tugged at your heart.

Following the sobbing, you came to a shed that housed the school’s athletic gear. Behind that shed was a kid.

You recognized the kid as one of your neighbors. Hunter was his name if you remembered correctly.

You looked around quickly, you knew the kids usually left for school together since they were rather loud when leaving the apartment and you knew they got home together too, so you couldn’t understand why one of them would be at the school on their own when it had finished at least an hour ago.

Tripping from one foot to the other you pondered your options. Before finally coming to the conclusion that you couldn’t just leave him there.

Hunter had almost run away when you had approached him and it had taken quite a bit of persuasion to get him to come over to you-

So that you could see the multiple scrapes and bruises on his small hands and knees. It really didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. Kids were awful creatures sometimes.

You had offered to take him home, and while he insisted on keeping his distance and eye you cautiously every second, you had made it back home before dinner and you two actually had a pleasant trip. Most of which you talked about everything and anything and taking care of his bruises with the few band-aids you carried around. Now, when Ms. Ruthdale, Mama Rabbit, had seen you come home with her beat up kid, she had been anything but kind. How you had escaped without anything but a bruised back from when she had tackled you to the ground you didn’t know, but somehow Hunter had intervened, begging his mom to not hurt _his friend_ and in your own surprise, exhaustion and anger, you had snapped.

The yelling had alerted the other neighbors and they all saw as you finally got in Ms. Ruthdale’s face about the unfair treatment and downright asking her what her damage was. She had looked ready to kill, she might just have.

But you had shaken your head, tired, hungry and 100 % done with her bullshit. You flat out stated that you didn’t want to fight her and wasn't going to, before turning your back on her, eyeing the graffiti on your door and letting yourself in.

The next day when you left for school, the graffiti was gone.

From that day onwards it had slowly gotten better. Your neighbors actually started to greet you, the store clerks didn’t growl every time you entered their stores and the Ruthdales? Well…

* * *

 

 

You quickly grabbed the cream and a pack of light beer. Mr. Ruthdale, Kale, he had told you to call him, seemed to have a soft spot for beer and you two always argued about, if monster or human alcohol was better. Human alcohol could never hold a candle to monster alcohol was your solid opinion after only having tasted monster alcohol one time before.

You had gotten very close to the rabbit family after that day and you were frequently invited over for dinner and you would usually help the smaller ones with homework. The mom, Cauli, had been slow to approach you after the confrontation but when she had seen you come home and go to work multiple times without eating dinner she had taken it upon herself to cook dinner for you once a week. Even when you had insisted you were fine, she made it a habit to leave something in front of your door or come over to your apartment to cook for you all, she always said they came over to your place because you had a nicer kitchen, which was a straight up lie, but it gave her an excuse to leave any leftovers in your fridge.

You rarely ate alone anymore and you were also getting along nicely with Pawington, the bear-monster you had for your other neighbor, who was a romance novel author. He often got you to proof-read his most recent draft, not that he needed it, his spelling was flawless, and you had to admit that while you were hesitant at first you were hooked now.

You paid for your items and soon enough you were entering the apartment complex with a spring in your step. You knew better than to try and take the old elevator up, the building was border-lining ancient and the machinery had a tendency to cut off suddenly. A lesson you had learned the hard way.

So you hightailed it up the stairs, pushing the heavy door open and-

A chill ran up your spine.

The hair on your neck stood on end as you took in the hallway. Every single door was open. Some barely hanging onto their hinges where they clearly had been forced open.

An uneased settled in your stomach. Was there a prank going on? You ever so quietly walked past the open doorways. Peeking in with a cautious glance. Dust littered the floors inside.

What in th-

Dust.

Monster dust. You suddenly felt sick, your breath coming out in shorter gasps.

A Loud bang made you jump and you whipped your head towards your door where crying could be heard from inside. No.

No, no, no, no.

The door was only slightly ajar but the hinges were busted. You picked up the pace and gently pushed the door more open so you could peek inside. Two dust piles were on the floor and Kale was struggling to pick himself up despite heavy injuries all over his body, a child was crying from further inside the room and your breath hitched as you saw four humans, all dressed sharply in the middle of the room. One had a long knife trained on Kale while another had pinned the kid under his boot.

Tears stung in your eyes as you felt the blood drain from your face. You didn’t know what to do.

“I’m very disappointed in you Mr. Ruthdale. I thought we understood each other when I told you to find another school for your children. Or when I told you that no one would let you buy a house closer to the city.” Your eyes locked on a middle-aged man who was inspecting one of the drafts you had gotten from Pawington. He grimaced before throwing it on the floor, stepping on it as he came dangerously close to the sobbing monster. The man looked dangerous, his expression cold and without any compassion, his hair was turning white under his hat and a nasty scar rose up from under his collar, fortunately for him stopping just under his mouth.

“And then you just had to go behind my back and try anyway.” He sneered. Suddenly he kicked Kale, sending him flying straight into the back of your couch. You had to cover your mouth to hold back the startled shout.

“You’re a filthy creature, God did not create you or any of your kind. “ He took the knife from the other man and stepped over the heaving body. “You’re simply dirt, and you need to be wiped away.”

He brought the knife down hard into Kale’s back. He let out a chocked gasp, his body going rigged before an invisible breeze swept over the room, blowing the monster into a pile of scattered dust. You stood frozen. Something wet ran down your cheek and you felt cold. It was as if your heart had stopped.

This couldn’t be happening. Kale was too good a person, he was just trying to give his children something better, he just-

A loud cry was what snapped you back and you saw that the man who had pinned the kid had stepped down and was now standing in a pile of dust.

No. Oh god, please no.

Footsteps walking toward you made you jump to the side, your body reacting before your mind knew what to do, and you quickly dove through the door to the Ruthdales apartment. You stood with your back against the wall, cold sweat running down your back.

You reached into your pocket; you had to do something, anything. You opened your recorder.

“What a hassle…Send confirmation back to headquarters that the beasts here have been taken care, all of the ones on the list. Erase all evidence; I don’t want anyone to know we were here.” The deep voice of the man said. He went quiet for a moment and all the noises stopped. It took you a moment to realize why.

That when you had covered your mouth, you had in the same instance dropped your grocery bag right next to Pawington’s door.

You heart jumped into your throat and your head felt light as you ever so quietly, inched further into the apartment, trying to turn the corner just a little further in so you would be out of sight from the doorway.

Footsteps picked back up again and loud banging echoed from the hallway. They were searching for the other apartment, you were sure of it. “No one’s here boss.” Someone said and you sunk to your knees as you heard rustling through the wall.

You wiped your eyes violently as a quiet sob escaped you. This could not be real. There was no way.

A noise from the room in front of you drew your attention. The children’s room. Glancing around to make sure no one was wandering into the apartment you let yourself in the room and shut the door. It was dark inside and the floor was littered with the kids’ school supplies and toys. Some of those children who had been-

You choked on another sob.

“I-is anyone in here.” You whispered. The apartment complex was dead quiet now and you had no idea where the men had disappeared off to. Another shuffling was heard from the closet in the corner of the room and you gently knocked at it, calling out for anyone inside, you anxiously looking back at the closed door.

Pushing open the closet you quickly saw two wide eyes stared terrified back up at you.

“Hunter!” You gasped. It was the two youngest, Hunter and a confused baby Lucilla who seemed to be on the edge of tears. Hunter had tears in his eyes as he heaved for air, staying quiet despite the danger. You knelt down and opened your arm for them. He rushed into you, crying into your shoulder as you shushed them both.

“I know, I know, you’ve done so well Hunter, so so well.” You say trying to silence your own sobs. Then a thought hit you. No one had checked this apartment. If they saw your groceries why wouldn’t they? Everything was too quiet; anxiously you picked up the kids and moved to the door. You listened carefully, something was wrong it was so silent now but-

You smelt smoke.

Ripping the door open you bolted for the hallway only to stop right at the door. Huge roaring flames stuck to the floor and walls, eating away at the material. Hunter shrieked and hugged his sister closer, pressing their faces into your chest. Lucilla keened her high-pitched crying cutting in your ears. The only way out was the staircase or the fire-escape on the other side of the building but the door was rusty and when you tried to use it for a shortcut once you couldn’t even open it.

Staircase it was.

“Do not to breathe the smoke!” You yelled holding the children close.  

You jumped forward through the flames blocking your way, they were already high and hot and you could smell gas on the walls around you. The fire licked up the side of your leg and you screamed in pain as you stumbled in the wall on the other side. The children in your arms were crying uncontrollably but you didn’t dare stop as the fire seemed to pick up and devour the building around you.

You slammed the door to the stairs open, breathing raggedly as you made your way downstairs. The sound of sirens made it to your ears and you slammed your way out of the front doors, stumbling as you collapsed on the grass outside. You were coughing harshly and your vision was blurry, but you didn't know if it was from the fire or because you were panicking, it only felt like a few seconds before a blanket was warped around you, but with the way your head was swimming you honestly couldn’t tell.

You looked around, tears running freely as you struggled to breathe. There were monsters from the other floors on the road, all being taken care of by the medics or firemen. You refused to let go of Hunter and Lucilla when firemen tried to move you to an ambulance.

You were safe.

But what the fuck had just happened. You couldn’t stop the tears and you felt like you might faint, a headache pounding heavily at your skull. A medic was trying to calm you down. Asking your name, how old you were, the whole standard.

They were dead, everyone on your floor. All the families and kind smiles that you had gotten used to seeing every day. Gone.

You answered whatever the doctors asked you, but it was the shouting of several monsters, all dressed in police uniforms, which held your attention. One, in particular, a giant yellow lizard with a uniform with torn sleeves was barking at the chief.

“Are you seriously kidding me? You’re writing this off as another accident! These fires have to be connected!” She was so angry, so full of frustration; her voice was quivering with emotions. You felt her fire inside of you.

The burn on your leg pulsed. Something in you pulsed along with it.

“It!” You managed before a coughing fit hit you, the medic at your side finally wrestled Hunter from your grasp and looked him over. Lucilla was sobbing quietly, her tiny hands wrung tightly in your hair.

The monster and the chief looked towards you in surprise, clearly not expecting any of the victims to speak so soon. The monster’s expression shifted to a surprised but softer expression that made the scars on her face look smaller. You tried to find your voice, suddenly desperate for them to hear you. “She’s right!” You shouted, a pitiful sound coming out as you cried.

“I saw it! I saw them dust my friends! This wasn’t an accident! It was murder!”


	2. Wherein you're very aware of how you smell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You strike a deal that you may just regret, but you know, there's no way in hell you're running away from this.
> 
> you wanted to be in the middle of things, well congratulations, you got front row seats, so don't complain when things start getting messy.

 

 _Alphys_.

That was the name of the giant monster officer. She was nice, a real hothead, but nice.  You had managed to wobble your way over to the police chief and her, and you do remember looking him straight in the eyes as you repeated yourself.

After your outburst you had passed out, luckily for you, Alphys had been the quickest of the bunch and had managed to catch you before you hit the ground. The paramedics had taken you to the local hospital and fortunately, it was only a minor case of smoke inhalation and the stress of it all that had gotten to you. This meant that you were being monitored for now but you were free to leave when the doctors had handled the formalities.

When you woke up Alphys was in the room with her partner, a human man that stared at you with a weird expression. You chose to ignore him in favor of her and she was quick to start questioning you about what had happened.

Alphys had tried to be formal, she had tried to take into account that you were tired and upset, but she was clearly impatient and despite your current circumstances, so were you, you felt rage in your heart. You told her everything.

But there was still one major question that you needed to get an answer on.

“Hunter was hiding in the closet with his sister… Please, I need to know what happened to them, are they alright after the fire?” You asked your voice laced with concern. No one had told you what had happened to them yet.

A hand suddenly held yours and you looked up to see the human looking at you with sympathy. He had stayed quiet under most of the story and opted for writing all important details down.

“They’re fine, very upset as you may imagine, but they have some family that will take them in.” He answered and you felt some tension leave you. Thank god.

“Please, catch this fucker.” You said you voice tight. “Lock him up and throw the key far, far away.” Alphys smiled, there was an underlying feel to it but you decided to take it for face value. She was furious and wanted justice, so did you and you weren’t going to question her methods, not right now anyway. You could tell from the way she had changed from tense to a more relaxed posture that she believed you and for the first time since you woke up, you felt hope.

The doctor came in soon after, you had almost finished your story but he said that all your vitals were fine and you were going to be completely alright. And he then, not so subtly, told you to gather your things and get going. Alphys informed you that when you were ready they would like to bring you to the station so they could discuss everything with you and then they left you to change.

You didn’t have anything but the clothes you had been wearing; they were dirty and smelt of smoke but you pulled them on anyway. You had only slept for an hour or two but you still felt the dreaded headache from before pounding painfully at your skull and you felt absolutely exhausted. God, all you wanted to do was to crawl back up on the bed and just-

A knocking brought you back and when you answered you saw a petite nurse come in. A rather pretty brunette with her hair down. She smiled sweetly as she poured water into a plastic cup before crushing a pill on the table by the door and mixing the content with the water.

“The doctor said you were still feeling the headache, so we decided to give you something to ease the pain a bit.” She then informed and handed you the cup, you looked down at the water in your hand. Honestly from the way the doctor had been acting you hadn’t expected any favors from him and you had been pretty relieved to not be getting any medicine with you since it usually meant a bigger bill.

You eyed the water questioningly. You weren’t the best at taking your medicine in general and when you absolutely had to, you preferred it to be pills. These water solutions always tasted horrible and your throat usually locked up. The nurse looked at you with a distant expression and you smiled at her before putting the cup down. You pulled your sweater over your head, missing her smile tightening.

“Thank you so much, I’ll drink it in a second.” You finally said. She nodded slowly and stood a moment longer before quickly filling out a paper by the door and rushing out of the room.

Well, that was a little odd. You eyed the cup and told yourself to be an adult about it.

That was until you took a small sip of it and immediately rushed to the sink to spit it out. Ew, that was probably the most bitter painkiller you had ever tasted. You quickly poured it down the drain and rinsed your mouth to get rid of the taste. Okay, that was actually really horrible. You told yourself your headache would probably be gone when you got some sleep and if you were lucky you could snooze on the way to the station. No need to take anything for something so small.

You wondered briefly if you would be charged for it.

With that in mind, you picked up your bag that held all your books and school essentials and literally the rest of your belongings. Sparing one look at your phone as you put it in your jacket, you thought about how you needed to call your parents. That was a conversation you were not looking forward to.

You walked down the corridor towards the reception area; there was a throbbing feeling in your leg. It had been bandaged up but it was luckily only a first-degree burn, because you got too close to the flames, but you weren’t there long enough for it to grab hold. It wasn’t as bad as it felt and the doctors had only needed to spray it with some disinfection before wrapping it up to let it heal. It would be gone in a few weeks.

Everything considered you were unscratched and you felt pretty lucky.

Even if you were probably the only one from the complex who felt that way…

Suddenly you didn’t feel so lucky.

You met up with Alphys and, Patrick? He had introduced himself right when you woke up but you had hardly paid him any attention, you felt a little stupid about that now. Alphys was eyeing the people milling around with suspicion but when you showed up she seemed to relax.

Patrick was the more talkative of them this time, he told you about what had happened after you had passed out, minor things just to fill the silence and you felt yourself zone out as you watched Alphys. She was on guard, her eyes scanning the room every second or so.

Not that the humans around you didn’t pay her any mind. She was getting more than her fair share of stares and hateful glares.

The drive to the station was uneventful. Patrick had insisted on driving and when Alphys was about to argue he silenced her with a single look. You didn’t entirely understand what that was about but you might just start to like Patrick yet. He was quiet but kind of sassy.

As you had anticipated you slept the entire way and you weren’t surprised to see Alphys gone when Patrick woke you and escorted you inside where he took you to the office area out back. He showed you to a seat, telling you he would be right back and just to wait there. And that’s when it began, the waiting.

Apparently, it didn’t matter much that you came straight from the hospital after having witnessed several murders, the one thing you could not seem to escape was the waiting. You sat there watching the officers work, carting people in and out of the station and taking notes and arguing, it was all very mundane in some way. Maybe it was the calm air they had around them as they worked, you would probably have found it incredibly stressful and chaotic to be working here.

Lucky for you, you didn’t have to.

But you did manage to doze off again. You were looking forward to getting a full night of sleep instead of these naps and you knew you should probably look up where the nearest hotel was.

When you were finally approached by an officer you were startled awake and had drool running down your chin. Well, that’s charming. The man smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes and you wondered briefly if Alphys or Patrick would come back.

He escorted you into an interrogation room and you were slightly confused, weren’t they just going to ask you to clarify certain things? You suddenly felt nervous as you took a seat at the small table, eyeing the black glass window on the side with worry.

No that was nonsense; you were innocent and a witness at that. These people were on your side.

First, a man came into the room, he smiled at you and you mirrored it back at him. For some reason you felt like all the smiles you had gotten were fake. The door opened again and you turned to look for the golden scales that had accompanied you all afternoon but found only a black haired woman. You couldn’t help but feel a little unsettled as the woman sat in front of you. She laid both of her hands on the table, a small recorder in front of her. She did not smile.

You were confused for a split second before… You felt like you were in serious trouble.

Were they actually serious? Were you a suspect? You felt like it. You cast a glance over at the tinted glass on the wall again, knowing that you were being watched before whipping your head back to the officers in front of you. You couldn’t help but feel sick.

“I am detective Bradlock and this is detective Peterson.” The man said as he sat down beside Peterson. The woman started the recording. “What is your name and date of birth?” She asked automatically.

You gave them both answers with little hesitation. “Am I a suspect?” You asked, your hands fidgeting under the table.

“We can’t reveal that kind of information at this time I’m afraid.” Bradlock said, looking at his partner. Oh fuck, they thought you did it. But why? You had come forward, you had an entire story, everything should be checking out, but… you then realized, they had no other suspects.

You were the only one who saw what happened, and your only alibi was probably Hunter. A kid. The other tenants might even have told the police of your past arguments with the monsters on your floor. You suddenly understood how it might look like you started the fire.

But you had been so sure Alphys had believed you, you didn’t understand why she would do this. Your mom had once told you that if you ever got in trouble with the police you had to ask them if you were free to go if it was an arrest they had to inform you _. You had rights_.

“Can I leave?” You asked Bradlock, he was clearly the ‘ _nice cop’_ and you knew that he had to answer you honestly.

He sighed. “Not right now, when you’ve answered the questions you can go.” Your eyes widened. You couldn’t believe this.

“Miss, please recount your story.” Peterson said in a demanding tone that had you stop completely. You felt panicky, after everything that had happened you were a suspect for killing some of your closest friends. _Your friends_. You felt tears in your eyes.

The rational part of your brain told you to stay quiet, told you that you shouldn’t give them any information or it _would_ be used against you. But you felt like you had to give them something, _anything_ to prove your innocence.

Bradlock at least had the decency to look a little ashamed, a split second where he looked like he really didn’t want to be here. Like this was wrong. You went over the terrible feeling you had felt when the man with the scar had come towards you and you had hidden, like a coward, what you had felt whe-

Your eyes flew open.

You suddenly remembered.

_You had evidence._

You choked in a sob as you clapped your pockets down until you felt a hard object. You grabbed your phone and both the officers perked up, sensing that you had something important.

You went into your recordings and while the phone had stopped recording after 20 minutes, it was just the first few you needed. “I did not hurt my friends.” You insisted with a hard tone, your eyes narrow. You laid the phone on the table and pressed play.

_“What a hassle…Send confirmation back to headquarters that the beasts here have been taken care. Erase all evidence; I don’t want anyone to know we were here.”_

The voice was a little muffled from the phone being in your pocket at the time, but it was still clearly a male voice, deep and a little rough. You tapped into the information of the recording and showed the officers what time it had been recorded.

Peterson looked flabbergasted and Bradlock seemed to struggle to hold back a smile. The door behind you opened and you looked back to see Alphys was standing there; staring at your phone like it was the most valuable thing she had ever seen. You felt tears sting in your eyes as you played it back again. You had recorded them, but you had done nothing to stop them, had done nothing to stop them from killing your friends, the kids… You felt disgusting.

Alphys laid a hand on your shoulder, a hard grip making you stand up and guiding you out of the chair, you grabbed your bag by the table and she leveled both officers with a triumphant smirk. “I told you she didn’t do shit.” She said and led you out of the door.

The minute you rounded the next corner you let the tears go. You apologized to the giant woman but she waved it off as she stopped next to a desk. You didn’t dare leave her side this time. You cursed yourself for crying so much, you never cried like this. But everything considered you guessed you were kind of excused.

Stealing a chair from the next desk over she asked you to take a seat as she got you a cup of water, which you gulped down before standing up to get another one and then another after that, suddenly aware of how all the crying was using up the water in your body.

“I’m sorry about that. I really am but when the higher-ups tell us to do questioning, there’s little someone like me can do.” A monster, there’s little a _monster_ can do, is what she meant to say and you nodded your head in understanding. She was still on your side and that’s what mattered to you right now. A sob still threatening to break you, locking up your voice as you fought it.

You were so relieved to see Alphys. She believed you and she was protecting you. You felt pretty alone at the station especially after that. It felt wrong, like it was the opposite of what should have happened and you couldn’t really understand why it did happen.

In any case, it felt like Alphys was your only friend here.

And maybe Patrick.

As if on cue she pushed a box of tissues your way and you tried to wipe away the tears that had yet to fall. She chuckled at your attempt at a brave face before she made you fill out a sheet of paper with all your information.

You may have gotten a bit too used to being around monsters and not minding their physical attributes because it was first when you saw the giant monster _try_ and _fail_ at sitting down at her desk that it struck you just how huge she was. Her knees poked up over her desk and she had to bend over her computer in a manner that looked anything but comfortable to start using said device.

She borrowed your phone to make, a generous amount of copies, of your recording and it, was when you were halfway into giving her your story again, this time Alphys making a lot of notes, that you felt your stomach growl loudly.

She looked at you for a second and you felt heat rise to your face. You were about to apologize and continue with your story when she stood and disappeared from the room. When she came back she was holding two sandwiches.

Now, just _seeing_ the food in her hand, made you stomach make another needy groan and you covered it with your arms, embarrassed when you remembered that you hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch. Alphys had the gall to laugh at you. Sensing no real mockery from her, you smiled.

“Eat up, my girlfriend made it for me but you haven’t had anything in a while I think.” She said casually as she looked over her notes, unwarping her own sandwich and biting into it. You didn’t need to be told twice as you tore into yours. _Oh my god_ , that was so good.

There was an odd consistency to it but it tasted absolutely out of this world. And it was only after a few bites when you noticed that the food dissolved in your throat that you realized it was monster food. You hadn’t had much of it but you knew it turned straight into energy as you ate it, and you really loved the way the magic of it tingled on your tongue. You must have had a goofy expression on your face because not even a second later Alphys slapped her thigh with a bark.

“It’s good, right? Undyne usually insists on just making cup noodles for herself but since I’ve started getting more shifts she decided I needed a little extra to keep the energy up!” She boasted proudly and you smiled brightly between wolfing down the sandwich.

“I’m sorry about eating your sandwich, but thank you so much! What does your girlfriend do?”

She beamed so proudly, such a happy smile. Full of rows upon rows of teeth. Yeah, the lack of fear response told you that you were a little too used to monsters maybe.

“Oh, she’s nothing short of amazing! Her name is Undyne and she’s a scientist, used to be the royal scientist when we still lived underground and she’s just so freaking smart!” Alphys nearly shouted her cheeks tinting a darker red as she started to gush about this new monster. It was pretty cute and it made you think that if you found someone out there who was just half as in love with you, as this giant death monster was with Undyne, you would be the happiest human on earth.

Apparently, when you first got Alphys started on her girlfriend and friends she was hard to stop and you found yourself relaxing more and more. The more you had gotten to know your neighbors you had learned that monsters had an incredibly strong sense of community and fellowship. While in the underground they had been ruthless to one another and quite hostile, due to infighting and lack of resources, but as they got topside that same ferocity had made them turn to each other and made them a tight-knitted bunch.

You remember once, when Cale had gotten into a fight with someone downstairs, even though they viewed each other as allies they still started growling over the littlest things and people would lash out every now and again, but while he had been victorious, he had let the other monster go without any major injuries. He had then told you and his kids that today’s enemy might be tomorrow’s friend. You had felt so proud to be his friend.

You slowed your eating a bit, trying not to let yourself get too caught up in the memory, your head was still pounding slightly and you really needed to stop crying if you wanted to be rid of it. So instead you focused on the food and scanned the room. Despite it starting to get late there was still a lot of people at work, you saw some whisper closely just as another yelled loudly about tax fraud.

Were all police stations like this or was it just Ebott City’s?

You had a generally alright opinion of the police if not thinking they were a tad corrupt depending on where they were. You had read a fair number of cases about police judging unfairly, not just monsters but especially them. And since you were siding with monsters, in this case, you couldn’t help but wonder… if something wasn’t as it should be…However, you always tried to believe that they would protect people and do the right thing at the end of the day! Right?

But…

Alphys’ voice dying down was what brought your attention back and you saw her suddenly looking around cautiously; all officers around you seemed busy. She then leaned forward; lowering her voice to a whisper you weren’t aware she was capable of.

“Something shady is going on, so listen carefully. I believe you and I will be on your side. You’re an eyewitness for crying out loud! If anyone tries to question you further or try to make you do something, you ask for a lawyer straight away. You do not answer any questions about the case. Everything you say without a lawyer will be used against you.” Her eyes were narrowed as she whispered and a chill ran up your spine. You looked around too, chewing slowly as if you would hear a secret being uttered from somewhere around you.

You felt anxious.

You had to ask.

“Is someone trying to frame me?” You whispered back and Alphys looked angry, but she lowered her eyes. She was quiet. You took her silence as your answer.

“I don’t know kid, but what I am saying is that you can’t trust your own kind, not right now anyway.” She pushed a piece of paper towards you and you looked at it. It was the name of the diner down the road.

“Listen, kid, I have an idea but I honestly don’t think we should talk here. In 30 minutes I’m off and we’ll meet up here.” She tapped the piece of paper again before tearing it up and throwing it in the bin.

You gulped. It felt like people were watching you, your hands felt sweaty. Ew. “Alphys what’s going on?” You asked quietly. She sighed and rested her head in her hands. “Just go to that place and I’ll be there soon enough.” You wanted to argue, you didn’t feel safe, and you didn’t know who to trust. But when you looked her in the eyes something poured over into you and you clutched you bag tightly as you got up.

You hated how it felt like you were on an emotional rollercoaster. You didn’t really feel safe right now and you would rather not walk around on your own. You were tired and emotionally and physically exhausted. This whole police ordeal on top of it was doing nothing for your nerves.

But you knew you could do this.

It’s only just down the road and then Alphys would be with you again, you reasoned against your tired and anxious mind.

You didn’t look back as you made your way out of the station and onto the cold, dark streets of Ebott City. A wind ruffled your hair and you could smell smoke off of yourself. You told yourself it didn’t matter. The diner was just down the street, you had been there once before after school. It was a nice place but only locals seemed to go there.

You swung your bag onto your back as you started walking. You knew the shadows you saw dance in the darker alleyways were nothing more than a spin of your mind but you couldn’t help the relieved sigh you let out when you pushed open the doors to the diner. The man behind the counter greeted you warmly and you checked the spare change you had in your purse before ordering a cup of tea. Gods knew you needed it.

You claimed a booth by the back for yourself and pulled out your phone to check your balance. It didn’t seem like you were in trouble just yet but you would have to ask your insurance company for compensation. And find a place to sleep, which was also incredibly important.

Actually, let’s move that to the top of the priority list.

You groaned and blew at your drink.

You massaged your forehead gently; the headache was settling down slightly but was still very much present. You kinda wished you had taken the medicine. Looking up at the clock behind the counter you realized it was almost ten. You felt your eyes getting heavier but with the way your mind kept making up shadows out of the corner of your eyes… you just didn’t feel safe. You took a sip a little too early and the way the tea burnt your tongue seemed to wake you back up.

You settled for finding a small bed and breakfast a small trip with the bus away and then watching the cars drive by. Your mind started to wander.

In only a few hours your life had been completely turned around and you were now sitting at a diner, in the only clothes you owned, waiting to meet up with a monster officer who said you couldn’t trust the police and _you believed her_.

All of your friends were gone; you had no one left in this town. You felt anxious, if you weren’t so tired you would probably be crying. Again.

 This was such a bad situation, you didn’t know what to do.

At least Hunter and Lucilla were alright.

A person sitting down in the seat in front of you had you jumping slightly but you smiled when you saw the scarred face and toothy grin.

You felt like you were befriending this cop pretty easily, maybe you had one person left in town.

“Alright kid, in a minute a friend of mine will come in here so we can discuss a few details about the case and your role in it. Because the thing is, we’re going to lose this case if we bring it to court on its own.” Straight into the action? Yeah, you figured there was no reason to beat around the bush. You were about to reply when the sound of the door opening and closing drew your attention. Or maybe it was the three huge monsters that stepped inside that did that.

If this meeting was supposed to be subtle you think they might have blown it.

But then you felt your jaw literally hit the floor. Two of the monsters stayed by the door, they were heavily armed and covered in strong, heavy armor but small features poked out here and there and one seemed to be an alligator monster and you were pretty sure the other was having cat ears poking through her helmet. But the monster they were escorting…

She was the most beautiful person you’d ever seen. Snow white fur covered her body and she wore an elegant but practical dress that would make any celebrity bow their head in shame. Her eyes were narrowed slightly as if she had just figured out the answer to a question and the horns spurting from her head were grand and glorious.

You had seen her a thousand times on TV, _of course_ , you knew who she was.

This was no other than Queen Toriel Dreemurr, the Queen of Monsters.

She looked around and when her eyes fell on Alphys she started to make her way towards your table. If this had been another situation you would probably have laughed at how silly it looked for this giant monster, who was bigger than Alphys, and being a Queen, to be gracing this diner with her presence.

You felt light headed. She couldn’t be meaning to talk to you? Could she? Alphys had said nothing about meeting the Queen of _freaking Monsters!_ You hadn’t even had a chance to shower.

Alphys stood up to greet her with a fond twinkle in her eyes and when the Queen’s eyes fell on you, you practically jumped out of you seat. How did you greet royalty? You had no idea so you ended up giving a respectful bow like you had seen Pawington do it when he sometimes acted out a scene from his books. “Your Majesty.” You muttered, you could feel heat radiating off of your face and when you glanced over at Alphys, you saw her almost laughing at you.

Oh, she could at least have told her that her friend was actually the Queen herself!

Toriel gave you a curt nod and took a seat beside Alphys across of you. As if on cue one of her guards came over with two cups that seemed to be coffee before positioning herself back by the door. You think you saw the other laugh silently. There had to be an ongoing joke there.

Alphys took to introducing you when you seemingly had forgotten how to do anything but stare, but you did manage to get out a small “pleased to meet you.” The Queen returned some form of pleasantries but you were a little busy being aware of how dirty you were.

“Throughout the six years we have been on the surface we have been building up one major case about abuse and violence against monsters. We want you to bring your story to court as a part of this case.” She started and you couldn’t help but focus on her. There was an air of importance to her, to the way she spoke; there was no way for you to not listen.

“My court members and I have been having difficulties in getting your kin to see things from our perspective. But I am certain that if presented with the knowledge that we have been gathering over the years they will allow us to be granted more humane rights.” She said as if she was speaking to an adversary. _Like she was trying to convince you._

She didn’t just want to win this case, she was fighting for something far bigger. And now, so were you.

You nodded your head, your mind was already filling in the blanks. This was a major case, there was no way it would go ignored, you would take it to court and find whoever was responsible for these crimes. You would help them get to them, and then everyone would get justice. Everyone.

“The investigation on the fire and murders is going to get dropped.” Alphys suddenly said and you nearly spit out the tea you had sipped.

You looked at her rather stupefied, your breathing stopping.

“What? What do you mean it’s going to get dropped? It’s _murder_.” You pressed, your eyes narrowing. You couldn’t believe this, they had to be joking. You hadn’t noticed that you had raised your voice and a patron at the counter turned to you with a glare.

The queen steeled you with a look that told you she was well-aware and you couldn’t help but squirm under her gaze. “You have to understand that we do not yet possess the same rights that you do, in the public eye our kind is not yet considered people.” She explained with a twirl of her hand. Alphys picked up where the Queen left off.

“Okay kid, here’s what going on. You are a key witness for a murder case, and not just a murder case but a murder case _against monsters_. This means that the case will get dropped or not followed thoroughly up on. In fact, the police are already looking into covering it up with more important cases, but in a few weeks it’ll be like it never happened.” She said, taking a long sip from her coffee, she looked like she needed it.

“What we want from you is to keep insisting that they carry on the investigation. Just drop in at the station every week or so and ask how things are coming along and such, nothing major. I will personally look into all of the clues and information you have and I will keep building on the case, maybe even find a suspect.” She said and there was a moment her eyes gleamed and you could see why she was with the police force.

“The man with the scar.” You smiled back, yeah you had a pretty clear picture of him in your head, you were pretty sure you could recognize him anywhere.

“There have been several cases of monster inhabited housings mysteriously catching fire so if we can link all of those together we might have a very strong chance.” She said and you could see the gears turning in her head, you were pretty sure she wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.

The Queen cleared her throat and you instantly stiffened.

“When the time is right and we are able to come forward with a case, I would like for you to testify for us, simply bring your story to the court.” She said simply but there was something far deeper in that request than just testifying and in the moment, when she looked at you with those hard eyes, the world around you seemed to go dark and only you, Alphys and the Queen were left.

Colors faded and you felt a shiver run up your spine.

She was asking you to choose, and you were suddenly very aware that if you testified in favor of the monsters you would be choosing them over humans and that was bound to bring some uncomfortable situations. Could you really deal with that?

“Will I be in danger?” You asked, knowing all too well that when your kind decided someone was a threat it could be hard to get away. You weren’t that stupid, you had had history in school. You knew what humans were capable of. But you didn’t know how many people were for or against monsters. You wanted to know your chances.

Alphys sighed and she and the queen shared a look.

“You will be, but it’s the only way we can bring justice to those who deserve it and make sure nothing like this happens again.” She said, eyeing you carefully. You could say no, could go home and not put your life at risk again.

But…

“You will of course be generously compensated for your trouble.” The Queen added and you started to feel bad that she tried to bribe you into helping them. You knew it in your heart, there was no way you were running away from this. You were just… unsure. Afraid.

You looked up and met her gaze dead on. A small smile on your lips. To hell with afraid.

“I will be honest, you had me at ‘justice’.” Alphys gave you a toothy grin. The darkness seemed to lift and disappear and the slight noise of the diner filled your ears. The Queen gave you an odd expression.

“In the meantime. We understand that you don’t have any place nearby where you can stay, is this correct?” The Queen sipped of her cup and you thought you saw her smile but you could be wrong.

“I don’t really have another place to live in the city but my parents live a few states over…” You answered; suddenly a little too aware of how all of you belongings were in that fire. You didn’t even know if anything had survived.

You would have to call your insurance company, and your parents, and your landlord, you felt tired all over again, and not ready to be the adult you needed to be. You would either have to find another place to live immediately or probably move in with your parents, but then you might have to drop out. You didn’t really have any friends in the city that you could crash at, none that hadn’t lived at the apartment complex at least…

You felt like this would haunt you forever.

“Y/n, the Queen and I have reason to believe that you might not make it out of the state if words gets out that you’re willing to testify…” Alpys suddenly said and all your thoughts just stopped. “Normally we would be enrolling you into a witness protection program, but since the circumstances are a bit different, and we don’t know how much of the police force we can trust, we do believe it would be safer to let our own care for your safety.” She continued and you had to take a double take. Was she saying what you thought she was saying?

“Like bodyguards? Do you really think that’s necessary?” You questioned. You didn’t feel like you were that important, surely they were overreacting just a little.

“I have former members of my Royal Guard who lives here in the city; I do believe that both of them would be quite adequate at securing you until we can put up a case.” The Queen informed next, ignoring your question but answering it at the same time. You knew you were sporting a weird expression, you didn’t know if they were taking precautions or if you should be more concerned for your life.

The Queen noticed, and for not the first time you felt like she could read you like an open book.

“Y/n, you have nothing to fear with my guards, I can guarantee your safety with them.” She said and sounded almost gentle. But that wasn’t what made you pause.

Unwavering faith. That was what you saw when you looked her in the eyes, fear and doubt on the tip of your tongue that somehow seemed to clear away without questioning. The Queen of Monsters trusted these people with her life. There was no doubt in your mind that when the Queen guaranteed your safety as she did now, nothing, and you really meant nothing, would be able to get to you.

You felt safer than you had ever felt.

And like that the deal was made. The deal that would change everything for everyone, and you? You landed right in the middle of it.

 

* * *

 

It was way later by the time you arrived. Alphys had volunteered to drive you and you understood why Patrick had insisted on driving earlier. First off, Alphys was way too big for the car and you were seriously wondering just how she managed to use the right pedals or not simply crush the steering wheel.

Second off, you’d maybe think that being a cop meant that Alphys was the ideal driver who actually followed the rules and made everyone feel safer knowing she was on the road. Hah, yeah maybe that was not your first thought and honestly? It shouldn’t be. Alphys was a _monster_ on the road. She was yelling loudly, running red lights and by the time you arrived at the nicer houses on the other end of town, you felt like you had lost several years of your life.

So that was an experience.

One you could definitely have lived without.

She had told you a little about your new housemates. Sans and Papyrus, odd names but then again monsters seemed to have odd names in general, were both part of the guard, Papyrus used to be a sentry while Sans was an overseer of an entire area, high enough up in the ranks to be considered second in command after Alphys. He was a brutal strategist but had a fair heart and you were actually pretty excited to meet both of them.

That was until…

You stood on the dirty doormat, the moon somewhere behind you, lighting the entryway of the house. The door had been ripped open in front of you right when you had been about to knock. You had been about to greet him when the words had died in your mouth.

He had such captivating blue eyes.

The person in front of you, the skeleton, was looking at you wide-eyed. Not that you were faring much better, you didn’t know why, but it felt like static made it through your body. Short-circuiting every nerve before everything lit on fire.

All you saw was an endless ocean of cyan. Bold and strong, majestic and demanding, but it swept you up so gently with so much love and a promise of protection and a prideful existence. You felt out of breath.

Your vision was blurry.

You didn’t understand, what was going on?

A flicker of warmth caught your eyes somewhere over the blue orbs you were currently starring into and you managed to flick your eyes upwards, though it took almost all of your energy.

A fire engulfed you. It reminded you of cold winter nights spent in front of a fireplace that never seemed to die down. It was endless warmth, a perfect contrast to the harsh waters below. A hushed whisper of a promise untold but never broken. It was a caring but impenetrable defense. You felt at home.

Your head felt light, you almost didn’t manage to catch yourself on the door as your knees gave out. You must still be weak after the entire ordeal from earlier. And then the meeting with the Queen, yeah it was exhaustion that made you this way. Man, what a way to meet someone. You cursed under your breath.

A voice behind you spoke softly but you couldn’t make it out, you felt like you were in the middle of a thick fog. You didn’t know if you wanted to panic or go deeper. A strong hand gripped your arm and hefted you up; pushing you past the two figures at the door and into the warm house.

You stumbled over your feet but they managed to carry you directly into the living room where you found a nice wall to cling to.

You think you managed an apology but you honestly couldn’t tell since all sound seemed to have left you. You tried to explain that you felt weird but you didn’t think it was bad, you knew that Alphys would personally carry you back to the hospital if it was necessary. But you felt a warmth in your stomach, it was oddly nice.

You decided you must just be tired.

A voice called your name and you could barely make out Alphys voice over the fog.

“You can ask either Sans or Papyrus to get my number later, call me if you need anything. And I mean anything. I’ll see you soon kid, remember to stay strong.” She ruffled your hair slightly but you didn’t dare let go of the wall. You felt a strange tingle in your feet, like when a part of your body fell asleep and you try to make it wake up.

Alphys went over to the smaller of the skeletons; he still seemed quite shocked, you must have looked worse than you thought. Whatever she said pulled him out of starring at least. A shadow on your left made you turn your head. The other skeleton, taller and somewhat lanky, starred down at you. His eyes seemed to drill into you. You couldn’t figure out what expression he was sporting but the more you looked at him the more the fog around you dissolved. The tingly feeling traveled up your legs and you wiggled your toes as you let out a breath. Seemed like your body was more willing to do what you told it to now.

You looked away from him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think I still felt so tired…” you trailed off, trying to excuse the way you had practically stumbled into their house, you liked to think of yourself as somewhat graceful if not for the occasional stumbling and tripping.

He didn’t say anything and you looked up again, trying to see any sign that he might have heard you. You were about to repeat yourself when you heard the door close and you turned to see the smaller skeleton close the door. Alphys must have left. He turned slowly, still eyeing you warily but when he saw you starring back his back straightened and he was in front of you in 3 long strides.

“Human! I welcome you to our home, I am the Terrible Sans and you will address me as such or as ‘my lord’, and this is my brother Papyrus! We have been informed of the situation and I can assure you that no harm will come to you at any time during your stay with us.” He said sternly, his voice hard and authoritarian, leaving no room for questions.

“That being said I expect full cooperation from you and you are to understand that I will not tolerate any disobedience.” As he spoke his eyes narrowed and you found yourself swallowing a lump in your throat. Why did this remind you of a military commander?

Alphys had said that he used to be second in command, so maybe you should have seen this coming.

You opened your mouth, not entirely sure what to say to any of that but the fog had lifted enough for you to understand that this situation felt a little more than odd.

“We have a list of house rules that you will be following as you stay with us and I feel the need to express that you are not allowed, under any circumstances, to go anywhere without my brother or myself.” His blue eyes were made of cold steel as he captured yours and while you felt tired, while you understood the gravity of the situation. You felt mad. You hadn’t expected any of this to be easy, but you hadn’t expected to be put under dictatorship either.

Your eyes narrowed at him, as you let out a breath and for a moment Sans seemed to go rigid, his sharp teeth pulling down into a frown, as if he could sense your anger. Monsters were very good at reading emotions as it was, so you wouldn’t be surprised.

Exhaustion was knocking at your willpower though and you were suddenly acutely aware of how you were standing in two strangers’, two skeleton monsters’, house in the middle of the night with nothing but your school bag and a shit-ton of problems. You tugged at your sleeves as you looked down, deciding not to take the fight, maybe you were all just tired, and tomorrow you could talk this whole thing over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy... okay this chapter is over double the length of the previous one and just a word of warning, you shouldn't get used to that, it's only because there's a shitton happening here and I want an almost clean slate for when reader starts living with the skelebros, which will be official in the next chapter! Skeleton action yay!
> 
> Anyway, I have to admit I have no idea how this turned out, I'm afraid that when I re-read something 20 times I kinda lose sense of if it's any good or not, so I really hope you all like it!!  
> Please leave a comment telling me your thoughts so far, ideas and criticism are welcome but those nice comments you left me last time really cheered me on!!!


	3. Something breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is about adapting and moving on. But you've only just made it out on the other side of a traumatic event, you can't be expected to be completely alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, notes are at the beginning this time because I felt like I needed to leave a warning.
> 
> THIS CHAPTER IS VERY EMOTIONAL AND NEGATIVE AND MIGHT TRIGGER  
> It was a little taxing to write since I used one of my own experiences as inspiration but I'm very happy with how it turned out!
> 
> Idk if it's bad enough to trigger but I went a little overboard with the hateful spew that your mind says to you. This is reader's big breakdown, I will continue to make it heavy at some points in the future because trauma doesn't just pass away after you finished crying, it stays with you, but this is the heaviest chapter until the funeral.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you like it, reading you guys' thoughts is legit the best thing ever!  
> Also, how would you guys feel if I made a blog for extra content, thoughts, and ideas?

The smell of cooking bacon slowly made its way up the stairs to your sleeping form. Your mouth watered at the image. God, you loved breakfast.

Next, you registered how the sun was gleaming in through the window. A beautiful day waiting, it felt amazing. Warm and inviting. You idly hoped mom had bought juice.

Birds were twitting out in the tree in the backyard, probably scolding one another for stealing all the food, and you stretched out feeling the sheet falling to your side. You burrowed your face in your pillow, it didn’t smell like you remembered but it was nice, maybe mom was trying out a new scent? You would have to tell her to keep this one.

You turned onto your back and opened your eyes. A wooden ceiling greeted you.

It was the wrong color.

In a matter of seconds, every muscle was tense and you shot up, almost knocking yourself onto the floor and you watched as the rest of the sheets fell over the side of the bed. You hadn’t been with your parents in a few months. As a matter of fact, you hadn’t been at your parents’ house in almost an entire year.

And then everything from yesterday came back to you.

Papyrus had taken you to a fairly nice guestroom after you had met with him and his brother. Sans had excused himself and stayed in the kitchen, you couldn’t shake the feeling that he seemed upset. But honestly once Papyrus had led you upstairs and you saw the bed, you found it hard to focus on the bonified, heh, ex-commander downstairs.

You were so thankfully to finally seeing a real bed, in a quiet room, where you would be _safe_ , that you barely registered Papyrus pull out and put down some clothes on the bed beside where you had flopped down. You went to thank him but when you turned around he was already gone.

You reminded yourself that they barely had had any time to prepare for you to arrive and that they were probably just as shocked as you were, so you tried not to read too much into it.

And you had been too tired to do anything besides change and go straight to bed.

But now? Now you felt better, your headache was gone and the strange fog of exhaustion that had taken over you yesterday was also nowhere to be found. And you felt…

Yeah, you felt… ~~Horrible, _worthless_ , **_disgusting_**~~ …

…

Fine?

You felt fine!

And seeing just how beautiful the day was turning out to be made you think that everything was going to ~~end in even more tragedy because you knew you were going to fuck something up even more~~ be alright!

Papyrus had had yet to utter a word to you and you honestly didn’t know if he was mute? You would have to find out, at least to save yourself from any embarrassing moments. You still didn’t know what to think of Sans. He was authoritarian and bossy, but then again he hadn’t had much time to prepare for you coming to stay with them and you were a human, whom they didn’t know much about, and you were probably all very tired.

You opted for ‘ _being tired’_ was the excuse for every bad interaction yesterday. ~~Yeah right, like you actually believed that. Not even you were that stupid.~~

… But maybe you should chalk Sans up as being a little bossy, he did _use_ to be second in command of the royal guard while in the underground and it _was_ pretty rough. You guessed time would tell.

You opened the closet by the door and saw it had a fair amount of clothes; most of it was just plain standard items in different sizes. Did these two do this a lot? Or had they just stocked up on a lot of items when they heard you were coming? No that seemed unlikely. ~~You weren’t that important, delusions of grandeur much?~~

You pulled out a pair of black sweatpants and a tee. On a hanger you found an oversized hoodie in the back, it seemed worn but cozy. Maybe it was one of the brothers? Figuring since it was in here, you were allowed to use it, so you took it with you. It looked very warm and you felt a little chilly. Holding it close you found it smelled slightly of pine.

Should you tell them you were up? You really wanted a shower, like almost desperately. Someone was still cooking breakfast so maybe you could take a quick one before going down to talk to them.

You still had so many questions, like how long it would be till the trial. Was there anyone who was injured? _How many had died in the ‘fire’? ~~Why hadn’t you just died there with them.~~_

Nope. Not going there.

You opened your door and with a qualified guess as to how most houses had the bathroom at the end of the hall, you opened the door there. Yep, bathroom.

A shower did wonders, honestly, the feeling of water washing off the grime and dirt and _stealing a little of the fancy soap that smelled much better than smoke_ , was just what you needed and before you knew it you were ready for the day.

You looked at yourself in the mirror, you looked tired and your skin was a little pale but you blamed that on this mess of a situation. ~~Or maybe blame it on that you could easily have lost your life yesterday or ended up in prison.~~

You quickly descended down the stairs and when you rounded into the kitchen you felt your steps slow. There were a few things that caught your eye. First off, Sans looked like he was going to visit the Queen herself. He might just, since they seemed to know each other, but his attire was nothing short of fancy, still holding a bit of an intimidating edge to it, but he could make the major feel underdressed. You felt a little self-conscious in your tee and sweatpants now and pulled the hoodie closer around you.

The second thing you noticed was the fact that the kitchen was… well, there were scorch marks over the stove and counters, some even reaching the ceiling, and the pans, which were carelessly pushed into the sink, were black. The room smelled like smoke and burnt food and you wondered if it didn’t bother them, they were skeletons maybe they had a poor sense of smell, or if they had a smoke alarm and how said alarm hadn’t gone off yet.

This made you look towards the food on the table. It was a simple breakfast consisting of eggs, toast and bacon…or that’s at least what you thought it was. You honestly couldn’t see the yolk of the eggs past the charcoal like appearance and the bacon? Yeah, that wasn’t fairing much better either.

The toast looked edible but was covered in so much butter that it might as well have been butter with a slice of toast. You weighted your options and decided you wouldn’t say anything about it.

Sans was reading the day’s newspaper with a cup of black coffee resting on his knee. Somehow you kept thinking it would fall over and spill all over the short skeleton, that was really something you didn’t want to happen right now and you eyed it warningly, like you focusing in on it would somehow make it keep its balance. Beside him sat Papyrus, his plate was empty, a few crumbs the only indication that he’d even eaten, and he was scrolling through his phone absentmindedly.

There was a third plate on the table, on the other side of the skeletons and you assumed that was for you.

You greeted them as you entered the kitchen and took a seat, but neither of them said anything back, they barely even acknowledged your presence. ~~Not that a worthless being such as yourself deserved it.~~

“Good morning.” You said with a little more force, feeling something heavy tug at your chest. You ignored it.

“So you finally decided to join us.” Sans said without even looking up from the paper in his hands. He took a long gulp of his coffee. Was he upset that you hadn’t come straight down? Something was definitely up; there was a slight tension in the air that made you squirm in your seat. ~~Maybe you should just have stayed in your room.~~

“Yeah, I really wanted a shower…hope you don’t mind.” You said, hoping to defuse the situation before it could start to build. He finally looked at you unimpressed with a raised brow, but you could only return his gaze for a moment before looking away. ~~Weak.~~ Was that a silly thing to ask? Why did he make you feel like you had committed a crime? ~~You might as well have, letting innocent people die~~. For some reason, you couldn’t read him at all. It was making you anxious and you decided to escape the situation by shoveling some of the charred bacon into your mouth. It tasted just as bad as it looked.

You more felt than saw Sans direct his attention back to the news. You looked around, you hadn’t had much chance to take in the house yesterday but now you were more aware and you had to say, it was _nice_. It was a rather large house, not fancy, but big enough to be housing four maybe five people. Looking over at Sans and seeing him scowling at the paper with an air of annoyance told you that was probably unlikely to happen. He seemed like he liked to have his space.

The front door had a small cut-off section that made it feel like its own room but it connected directly to the living room on the left and the kitchen with a small dinning-area, where you currently were, on the right.

Looking behind the brothers you saw a door that led into a back room and you guessed it was a laundry room and so you wondered if the room that lay behind the living room was a game room or something like that. The staircase was place in front of the front door if not a little off to the side and the upper floor had a fair amount of rooms. You hadn’t exactly counted yet but you thought it had six rooms.

Houses like these often had a basement, you wondered if this one did too.

You shifted your eyes to the other brother an-

Papyrus was eyeing you suspiciously. You starred back. You hadn’t expected him to be looking at you so obviously. He wasn’t even trying to hide that he was starring. And as he continued to stare, so did you. ~~Maybe he’s thinking about how he can throw you out of his house without upsetting the Queen. Maybe that was what Sans wanted to talk with her about…~~

“Seeing something you like darling~” He suddenly said breaking the silence and snapping you back to reality.

He winked. Sans scoffed.

Was he? …You think he was.

Wait, what?! He’s a _skeleton_!

At least you now knew he wasn’t mute.

You felt your cheeks heat up, no stop that! You were definitely going to ignore that. No smart comeback came to mind so you busied yourself with eating the rest of your breakfast.

Okay, you didn’t know which one of them had cooked but whoever was clearly punishing you for something. Which meant it was most likely Sans. It was very hard not to gag at the burnt taste and after only a few more mouthfuls you decided you had enough.

Sans startled you from your thoughts by clearing his throat. He put down the paper and proceeded to write something down on a small note before pushing over to your side of the table.

It was a phone number.

“I don’t know how much you’ve been informed of the situation, but Alphys told me to give you her number if you had any major concerns or questions.” His eyes seemed to narrow more and more for each word. Did you have something on your face? Maybe he just hated looking at you.

“Now, as I mentioned yesterday there will be some rules that you’ll have to follow while living with us, nothing unreasonable but simply there to ensure your own safety.” He said and folded his hands in a manner that made you think he was trying to be negotiable, even when his tone told you that there would be no negotiation on this.

“As already stated my brother and I will escort you _everywhere_ , you are not to go _anywhere_ without either or both of us and you are to stay with us at all time. No excuses, no exceptions.

You do not need to keep a job while under our protection, I have been informed that you will be compensated for your trouble and it will only make you an easier target. And neither of us will lower ourselves to be seen at any _unworthy_ establishments.” You couldn’t help the scowl at that comment, okay that was just rude.

“You must be present for breakfast and dinner, every day, unless a special occasion arises or you have talked to Pap or me about it first.

You are not allowed to bring guests over without first asking Papyrus or myself.

All rooms upstairs beside your own and the bathroom are off-limit and you are expected to keep the room provided for you clean and presentable.

And of course, I should hardly have to mention this but just so we’re on the same page, drugs are strictly prohibited and smoking is not allowed indoors.”

His tone was harsh, leaving no room for questions. To be fair it could have been a lot worse, you had kind of expected it to be worse, and since it was a rather intense situation you were in you understood where the concern from most of them came from, even if it sounded somewhat strict.

“That sounds fair I guess, but if you don’t mind, exactly why do I have to be here for breakfast and dinner?” That was probably the only one you couldn’t figure out.

Sans sighed, he looked like he could think of a thousand other places he would rather be. You felt like you were bothering him. ~~You definitely were~~.

“It is simply to make sure you get the nourishment you require and so that we can be kept updated if any unforeseen events should arise.” He looked you straight in the eyes. His tone even, his expression neutral. He had packed it into such pretty words so he wouldn’t have to say it outright.

They would be monitoring you. Making sure you followed the rules and that you didn’t _compromise_ yourself and in turn the situation. You felt sweat form on the back of your neck. You didn’t really like the sound off that, being watched so closely when you’ve already been stripped of the ability to go anywhere alone. You could feel the tight coil in your chest again, you felt angry. It suddenly felt like the house might be too small after all.

You sat a beat longer in silence. You felt like you would have to give your approval of these rules, but with that one? It felt more like a prison than help.

Too busy trying to figure out if you could say yes to something like this. You missed the way Papyrus stiffened, you didn’t see Sans’ frown waver.

“You do wish to continue your study, am I correct?” There was something about his tone here that seemed softer. Maybe it was because it was a question and not a rule. You nodded your head vigorously, you had thought you might have needed to drop out but if you had the chance to keep going, you would take it.

“In that case, Papyrus will escort you, it would fit nicely into you meeting up for breakfast. You will start up again in a few days when things have calmed down.” Was he, trying to come up with a compromise? Offering something in return maybe? You couldn’t tell from his expression. You hadn’t known your education was on the negotiation table.

“I myself have many duties and will not be able to follow you around.” He stated with a wave of his hand, like he was above such things. _Like you were supposed to be upset._ You found yourself thanking whatever god was out there for that he was _so busy_.

You looked to Papyrus, trying to gauge his reaction to all of his. His face was completely neutral, like he had expected this; they had probably talked about it beforehand. He stood and cleared the table, setting the dishes down by the sink. You thanked him when he took you plate and then he stopped and looked at you. You raised a brow at him.

Had he expected you not to thank him? Just what di- Oh.

He put you plate back down and smiled mockingly. He walked back to the sink to rinse off everything. You looked confused from him to Sans and back again. What?

Sans rolled his eyelights but said nothing.

Sans informed that he had some “important issues” that needed attending and left. You were pretty much confined to the house and to be perfectly fair you didn’t really feel like going anywhere. You didn’t really feel a lot, maybe a little sweaty and thirsty; there was also the tight knot in your chest, making it difficult to bre-

_No, we are not going there. Don’t think about it._

You pushed the feelings to the back of your head. When you looked over at Papyrus to ask him what you should now do, he simply smiled at you and told you to “ _be creative_ ” before walking off to some other part of the house.

You had the sneaking suspicion that neither of the brothers were very fond of you and only tolerated your presence because you were their charge.

_Not that you cared about that at all. It didn’t matter and the way you heart was tightening painfully under all of this stress was not an issue, nope._

Well, that didn’t leave you with a lot of options on what to do.

It did however leave you with some time to get your situation untangled a little and you started off with kicking your insurance company into gear. That almost ended in a larger argument. You had taken your laptop downstairs so you could access all your numbers and files for the man on the phone. You didn’t like to be _that_ person but you had paid them to make sure you were covered if an emergency happened. Like your home burning down. After hanging on the phone until after noon, refusing to drop the topic, they gingerly let you know that they _would have a report ready in a couple of day_ s, and you knew you would have to be prepared to check in with them, just to make sure they weren’t dragging things out and would actually pay your insurance.

Next up was your landlord.

Oh boy.

Your landlord was a mess. Honestly, you should have seen it coming; he owned a few of the apartments in the building and he had made a point of getting to know his tenants. A precaution he had called it, to make sure he wasn’t getting someone in who would end up trashing the place. You could understand that, hell you liked him, he was a very nice man, but while he liked to talk when he was happy he was unstoppable when he was devastated.

He was openly a monster-sympathizer, and while you hadn’t kept in touch with him so much, you knew some of your neighbors frequently talked with him.

He asked how you were holding up and you didn’t know how to answer. You couldn’t exactly tell him that you were under witness protection or where you were at. ~~You couldn’t burden him with telling him that you felt like you were breaking.~~ You ended up telling him that you were happy Hunter and Lucilla was staying with some family. That fortunately got the topic away from you. However, that launched him into a long monologue about finances, theories and oh god…

Funerals.

Over twenty people had died in the fire. It was hard to gather their dust because of all the ashes.

You felt your heart beat rapidly. You weren’t sure if you were going to be sick.

You could barely hear what he was saying anymore. The tight knot in your chest had moved to your throat and refused to let you talk. You couldn’t breathe and you curled in on yourself as you felt several sobs rock through you. That phone call was pretty devastating and when you finally hung-up, you didn’t even get to talk to him about getting your deposit back, you ended up falling back into the green couch, starring into the wall ahead of you. You felt empty, and you felt numb and cold as if you had a big black hole of sadness inside of you, all the while tears started to fall.

It was the most horrible thing you had ever felt.

You had pretty much just thrown your phone on the table after hanging up. You still had one important call left to make but you were not ready for that one. You knew it was going to be messy. You felt like you might never be ready.

Drawing your legs in on yourself you looked out through the window. The sun was hiding behind the clouds now and it looked like it might start to rain. Great and the day had started out so beautifully.

You didn’t dare turn on the TV, since you didn’t really know what you were allowed to do. You wanted to laugh at yourself, but Sans seemed to be watching you closely and you were a guest in their home after all. A guest that had been left alone and told to “ _be creative_ ”.

You just needed something to do. Anything really to distract yourself, maybe go for a walk? No, you weren’t allowed to leave and you didn’t know where Papyrus was. Not that you were prepare to ask him if you could go out.

… That thought made you feel like a dog. And that realization made you grind your teeth.

You were actually pretty sure Papyrus had fled the house so he wouldn’t have to hear you crying. It was so quiet.

You cursed under your breath. You didn’t know what to think or feel or do, you were angry but there was also a feeling like something right under your skin would spring out at any time and ju-

You heaved in a breath and got to your feet.

_Stop it, stop thinking about it._

You ended up pacing around the living room. Fighting your mind. You felt restless, _~~you felt~~_ ~~_like trash_~~.

You looked around. Nothing, you didn’t dare touch anything. You came to a stop in the middle of the room. You hadn’t really noticed how the time had flown by but the two calls had taken up most of the afternoon. You refused to give in to the intrusive thoughts that were pawing at you for attention. So with nothing else to do you picked up your phone. You had one last phone call to make.

 

* * *

 

The call with your parents hadn’t gone well.

The moment you had heard you mom’s voice asking if you were alright and why you weren’t at school, you had lost it. You had broken down into sobs and tears and unintelligent words that even you couldn’t figure out what was supposed to be. You had seriously worried her.

When you finally had calmed down enough to explain the situation to her, you had been unable to stop. _You told her everything_. She had demanded that you came home. As a matter of fact, your dad had been gathering his things to come pick you up right that second, even though he was several states away and the trip would take hours.

But then you had had to tell them that you weren’t leaving.

The fight that had happened was inevitable. It was everything you had feared.

She had called you _selfish_. Your dad had called you unreasonable. They had appealed to you, trying to convince you that it wasn’t your battle, _that you didn’t owe anyone anything_.

After that, you had told her that you couldn’t talk to them right now and would call them later. You hadn’t heard their response as you hung up on them.

Selfish.

That’s not the only thing you were, you were a horrible person, and how you were even still alive was beyond you. _You didn’t deserve it not when so many good people had died!_

You tried to stop the tears, sitting on the couch that somehow seemed like it might devour you. You hoped it would. You heard voices outside, one of them was semi-shouting and you had no doubt that it was Sans. You couldn’t, you simply couldn’t deal with losing face in front of him so soon, to be so vulnerable in front of a stranger that presumably hated you.

You felt your heart drop.

You practically ran up the stairs, a hand in front of your own mouth to silence any sounds. You felt like you couldn’t breathe, your eyes stung painfully and you could hear yourself panting harshly into your hand. Everything hurt.

You slammed the door shup behind you with a little too much force for it to be considered casual, but you could hardly care about that right now.

The moment you were inside, you froze. The room was quiet, _empty_. There was no one here to see, no one here to help you.

But why would anyone want to help you? Since you’re so willing to just let others die.

_You’re pathetic, nothing more than a coward._

You leaned against the door, sliding down to the floor. It felt like an invisible weight was forcing you down, smothering you under it and you let out a choked sound as you continued to cry.

You could have stopped it, you could have done something to save Cale at least, give him a fighting chance, but you had hid, _and you had recorded the damn bastards._ Like it was some sick game, you’re exactly like those people who take pictures when a disaster occurs.

_You’re no better than them._

_You’re a disgusting human being and because of you they died, hell you just stood there as **those men** **crushed the kid!**_

**_What did you even come here for?_ **

No, seriously why were you here? Because a feeling told you to go, _because you were following your heart?_ What did you think you were going to accomplish? You had practically locked down both Sans and Papyrus because they had to protect your sorry ass. Alphys was working herself half to death on the case and was in even more danger because of you. Who’s to say she won’t get dusted at the fucking station?!

Your mom was right you _were_ selfish and you let other’s get hurt because of you.

You tightened your arms around you, biting into your knee to try and muffle the crying but you knew you were loud. Tears wouldn’t stop falling and your entire face felt wet. _Everything hurt_.

You felt like you were shattering from the inside out, breaking apart.

_Were you ever whole to begin with?_

You couldn’t breathe right and as you tried to quell the tears, so you could take a deep breath. A wail pushed its way past your lips. You heard something fall over downstairs and you bit into your sleeve. You were being too loud.

_No, stop it was okay, it was alr-_

**_Nothing was alright._ **

You were making them uncomfortable, they didn’t even know you, and you were being a burden on them. Just like you allowed yourself to be a burden on your neighbors. Honestly, how did you let this happen?

You had no control of this situation. It was as messed up as it could be, several people were dead, most of them families. _You knew these people, they were your friends. And you didn’t even try to help them._

Your stomach made a painful twist and you felt sick as pictures of dust, fire and violence rapidly passed by your eyes. Everything had happened so fast. You had been so scared.

You continued to sob, your back against the door as you relieved yesterday.

When you had seen Hunter and Lucilla you had been so happy, you had felt so relieved to see them unharmed, but your fear had gone through the roof. You had to protect them. But you had to protect yourself too. You still remembered how Hunter had hung onto you like a lifeline, like you might have just vanished at any time.

There had been no way for you to leave without them. No way.

When the police had questioned you at the station you had felt sick and the memory of it had just about the same effect. You couldn’t trust them. _The very people who was supposed to protect you._

…

But you trusted Alphys.

_She can’t save you!_

But she would try… and she trusted Sans and Papyrus, which meant you were sure they would try as well.

You felt like you fought it forever, sitting there crying and listening to every damned hateful word. But as the emotions raged through you your cries slowly but steadily died down. And with them, the hateful voice in your head gave room, just enough, for the rational part of you to pipe in.

You knew that if you had interfered you would have ended up dead as well. And at the very least you got Hunter and Lucilla out of there. You patted your leg tenderly, careful not to press too hard at the bandage under your pant leg. No matter what you had done the monsters had ended up dusted, hell most of them were when you got home, and your home burnt down. Horrible as it was, it had been out of your control.

But that didn’t stop the feeling of worthlessness to settle in your gut. It didn’t help quell the frustration in your heart. It was horrible, you were not okay. You wouldn’t be for a long time.

But it did strengthen your resolve.

If you ran from this, if you gave in to these feelings, you would become all of these hateful things. If you ran, your friends would never get justice.

No, you would not back out now. You would bring them the justice they deserve. Hunter and Lucilla would grow up with rights. You would personally see to it.

And if you were going to go down?

You would go down swinging.

_You felt a heavy feeling disappear from your chest. Things might not be alright, but they would be._

**_You could finally breathe._ **


	4. Burritos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're feeling better.
> 
> Don't worry.
> 
> It doesn't last.

Shadows dancing in the dark were what shook you awake. Your vision was blurred and everything was too dark for you to make out. You felt like you were floating like your body had just decided to defy gravity and you allowed yourself to close your eyes again and keep dreaming.

There was a feeling of something touching your heart like someone was pressing down but it wasn’t uncomfortable, in fact, it was warm. Like a ring of fire around your heart, but it didn’t burn you. It was such a nice feeling, such a nice dream.

As you hung there, in a state of not quite dreaming, you wondered if this was what it felt like when people became aware in dreams. Lucid dreaming?

You landed on something soft, a cloud maybe? And the press lifted but the warmth didn’t disappear. You breathed in a heavy sigh and nuzzled into the pillow.

Yes, shadows dancing in the dark and warmth surrounding your heart were what lulled you back to sleep.

\--

You hadn’t even felt yourself fall asleep as you sat tugged into yourself in front of your door. Your mind had been so tired after all the crying and fighting, it had just happened. You couldn’t even remember going to bed much later. You must have sleepwalked over to the comfy mattress, your body too tense and uncomfortable on the cold floor to resist the temptation of a warm bed _right there._

What you did know was that when you opened your eyes and looked at the clock beside your bed; it was barely five in the morning. Yeah, that’s what you get for crying yourself to sleep before six. On the other hand, you really felt like you needed that sleep.

Another thing that made itself known to you in that instance was that you were starving. And you were acutely aware that you had only eaten breakfast yesterday, and even that was not a lot, so despite the fact that you hadn’t felt very hungry yesterday, now you were desperately craving something.

You wondered if Sans would be mad about you not being there for dinner. It hadn’t even been 24 hours and you had already broken one of his rules. You chuckled lowly, well it was the one rule you had been mostly against.

One thing was for sure, you needed water and food. And that was like right now.

The house was dead quiet when you peeked into the hall. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, yep there were six rooms on the first floor, you had yet to find out where the brothers slept and you could imagine one of the rooms were a study but you’d have to admit you were a little curious about the other rooms.

You reminded yourself they were off-limits and tip-toed down the stairs, you would rather not wake anyone. Not at five in the morning anyway. The house had a much more serene feeling to it than it did in the daytime and you again couldn’t help but think, it was a really nice home.

Making your way into the kitchen you flipped a switch by the back door that, did indeed, lead into the laundry room and while you found it hard to ignore the scorch marks that were, on closer inspection, all over the place, you opened the fridge to go over your options.

You did feel a little strange just making yourself at home like this, normally you would never just help yourself, but with the way your stomach felt like it was caving in on itself, You would just have to apologize later.

And boy, were you happy you decided on that.

In the middle of the fridge stood a plate with two pretty big burritos on it. It was warped and had a note attached to it that read, _“For Human”._

Did they, not know your name? Did you ever even introduce yourself; you kind of just assumed they knew it since they had talked with Alphys. Maybe you should do a subtle namedrop when you saw them for breakfast, save you all the awkward situation of re-introduction. In any case it was awfully considerate for them to leave you food and you wasted no time taking it out and rummaging through almost all the drawers before finding a knife and fork, you could probably have eaten them by hand but the low temperature and getting to sit for an entire night had made them a little soggy.

After finding a glass you took a seat by the table and dug right in, your mouth was watering at how good it looked!

And then you tasted it.

And you thought you might start to cry.

It was borderline inedible. Like don’t get me wrong, it _was_ edible. But only if it was the last thing left on the earth. There was a burnt, acidly, overly-salty flavor to it and the texture was sticky and hardening, like it was gluing itself to any sides of your mouth it made contact with and then refused to let go. Needless to say, it had you gulping down all your water in one go to get rid of it and you were afraid you were going to be sick from that one bite alone. Okay so maybe not entirely edible then.

Okay so it was official, either whoever was cooking, couldn’t _cook for **shit**_ , or absolutely hated your guts. You already knew it was the latter one and you felt anger in your heart.

You eyed the other burrito, wondering if it would be the same. You figured it probably would be and in the next instance the offending item, that dared call itself food, was in the trash. No way were you eating that.

You opened the fridge again, there had to be something, wait there was toast! Apparently, the brothers were out of eggs, you had briefly entertained the thought of making them breakfast, not only might that make a good impression but at least you knew it was edible.

You weren’t much of a cook but you considered yourself decent enough not to fuck up scrambled eggs and bacon. But apparently, that would have to wait for another day.

So toast with butter it was, the clock was fast approaching six and you figured your housemates would be up soon. You were a little anxious to see them. Not only were you angry over the whole food ordeal but you were pretty sure they had heard you crying yesterday and that made you feel vulnerable and weak, and you had an idea that Sans might be displeased that you broke his dumb rule.

You felt tired all over again. You would just have to stay and see how it all turned out.

You got your phone from the living room, making a mental note to remember to take your laptop back to your room, and sat at the table with your breakfast to see what was going on in the world.

So apparently there was an outroar going on. As Alphys had said the police had tried to move past the incident but the media had caught whiff of it and monsters and supporters all over the world was making their voices heard.

_“The real monsters”_

_“Police refuse to investigate murders”_

_“When are people, considered people?”_

The headlines kept coming, several politicians and celebrities as well as bloggers and YouTubers were stepping forward to join the debate and just like a lot of people came out to draw the difference between monsters and humans, using fear-tactics and generally just setting a “it’s them or us” twist on it all even more people thought it was scandalous and screamed for justice. No matter what, you knew that this debate was not going to die down anytime soon.

You saw that someone had questioned the connection between this fire, that claimed over 20 lives, and other fires all over town that had ‘ _taken out’_ a few families. The one at the apartment complex was by far the biggest and most eye-catching. But as you kept reading, you definitely saw some connections.

And they had all been written off as accidents by the police.

It was clear as day, the fire at the apartment had been a statement, bold and terrifying. A show of what could be done and how the police still would try and cover it up.

“You’re up early.” You jumped in your seat as the silence was suddenly broken. Papyrus came strolling in; he eyed you and then your plate, before rummaging around for a bit in the kitchen and turning on the coffee machine. He looked tired, perhaps it was because he just woke up but you could see dark circles under his eyes and he slouched slightly, he was wearing a big jacket with a big fur lining, it looked _really_ comfy.

And was that?

...was he wearing a collar? Had he been wearing that the entire time?

You had so many questions.

“Morning.” You greeted cautiously. You had absolutely zero idea on how to handle Papyrus though. He had yet to really show you what he was like as a person and that made you a little wary.

“You weren’t there for dinner last night,” He said, but his tone was neutral like it was more of a statement than anything else. Well, that was a fine observation. You didn’t know if he was rubbing it in your face or asking why you weren’t there.

“No, I accidentally fell asleep. I hadn’t planned on sleeping through it but it kinda just happened.” You explained putting your phone down.

“You mean like you accidentally threw the burritos in the trash?” He said, his voice holding an edge this time that made you think you should tread carefully. Not that you needed to answer, at that time, Sans decided to join you.

Unlike his brother he actually greeted you properly, you noticed that he seemed rather upbeat and when he saw that you had already eaten his smile actually seemed to widen. You saw Papyrus scowl from the other side of the kitchen.

But you still felt the fire from earlier when you saw him. You did not return his smile.

“I see you found the burritos I made.” Sans said with a triumphant smirk. So it _was_ him who had made them. You knew it! To your surprise, he seemed to completely disregard the fact that he hadn’t seen you since yesterday morning, which at least was something.

None of them seemed to want to comment on the fact that they had heard you cry and you silently thanked them for that, at least you could still have a bit of dignity.

 “How were they?” He asked and you nearly choked, so much for dignity, you were about to let him have a piece of your mind, you honestly didn’t know why he disliked you so much to try and poison you. But…

Something about his expression made you pause. It almost felt like… he was proud of those burritos.

 “They were…” What were you going to say? You saw Papyrus eye you warningly behind his brother and that’s when it clicked for you that Sans was, honest to god, just awful at cooking.

You could literally feel how your heart sank.

Yikes.

Fuck.

Abort mission.

You could tell him the truth, that they were inedible and that you had thrown them in the trash and possibly get yourself killed for hurting his feelings, and proving you were a horrible guest, or you could lie to him, stroke his ego, save yourself from Papyrus’ rage, because he was really throwing some daggers in that glare of his, but possibly have to be forced to eat more of Sans’ cooking.

Which would probably kill you in the long run.

Why did things like this always happen to you? ~~Because you’re usel~~ -Whoa, we finished this yesterday, don’t start again already.

Sans’ seemed to pick up on your hesitation, and something in his smile faltered. Well, now you had to go with the truth. Or at least a half-truth.

“Well they were a little salty and I think they might have gotten a little burnt, but they were definitely unlike anything I’ve ever had before.” You said and tried to smile as gently as you could. It wasn’t an outright lie but it wasn’t rubbing it in his face that you hadn’t been able to eat them either.

Not that it helped you any.

His face fell.

Come on, you didn’t think you could actually fool the former second-in-command of the Royal Guard, did you?

He stared at you, a shocked and somewhat terrifying expression that had your heart speeding up. Fuck, maybe you should say something else, lie and say you liked it! No, it was too late. You had made your choice.

It felt like the seconds stretched out into eternity. You stood up and was about to ‘elaborate’ when his face morphed into something that was far too hateful to be neutral, like he was obviously trying for a casual expression but the way his eyelights had narrowed at you, and his mouth turned to a frown that showed some pretty _sharp canines_ , made you feel like a deer in the headlights about to be run over, only for the car to back up just so it could run over you again.

Okay, that mental image might not have helped you much right now.

“I see.” He said his voice clipped and as you looked past him you saw Papyrus. His face was dark, his eyelight’s nothing more than small pinpricks in his sockets. He looked like he was ready to pounce on you and rip out your throat. You couldn’t move.

Sans didn’t say anything else, in fact, he stiffly walked over to his coffee cup, which papyrus had prepared, took it and left the kitchen. Something told you, you would not be seeing him before dinner. If he would be there for that at all.

The moment he was out of sight, Papyrus moved.

He was in your face so fast you jumped and nearly knocked the chair behind you over. You hadn’t even heard him come closer.

He had his teeth bared and the growl he was making made all the hairs on your body stand up. It was guttered, feral. Your heart was in your throat as he leaned in closer.

“MUTT! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!” Sans’ shouted from another room, yet his angry voice was still clear as day. Papyrus backed up in an instant, he still growled lowly and when he locked his eyes with yours, you felt cold sweat run down your back.

This was not over.

You would come to regret that.

It was first when he disappeared to find Sans that you sat down on the chair, your knees felt weak and your breathing was labored. For all the hate, distrust and authority Sans seemed to have over you, you would really need to watch yourself around Papyrus. After that display just now something told you that he was far more dangerous than he let on.

You felt like… you might need to have a talk with Alphys.

\---

Alphys was actually rather excited when you called, and you couldn’t really find it in yourself to talk to her about the issue you had with the brothers.

Not that you got much time to talk, the moment you had gotten over the formalities, again you got the feeling Alphys wasn’t much for that, she went off on how the media was responding to the news and while she couldn’t give them a comment it was clear that she was very happy with how things had gone.

She then informed you that she wanted you to come to the station, apparently, she had gotten hold of a criminal sketch artist and she really wanted the two of you to construct an image of your suspect.

You told her you would be there as soon as you could.

Which was what led you to this. You could hear muffled voices from the other side of the door and you knew they were talking about you, who else could it be? You were currently on the top floor, you had been about to search for the brothers downstairs when you had heard them talking from one of the rooms to the left.

You knew they were upset with you, the room was off-limit, but you would much rather deal with this small discomfort and then spend some time with Alphys. Maybe if you asked you could get Sans to accompany you. You wanted to keep Papyrus at arm’s length from now on.

So you steeled yourself, one, two three deep breaths and you knocked on the dark wooden door. The room went silent. A minute passed and you wondered if they were going to answer or if you should just state what you wanted.

“Come in.” The voice was laced with ice and you wondered if it was too late to turn back?

No, stop that.

They would not hurt you, _they would not hurt you_.

You opened the door. It was a bedroom, and you found yourself almost in awe at the pristine interior. All from the king-sized bed to the closet and desk screamed that whoever owned this room was important, it almost reminded you of a lord’s bedroom from the 1800’s if not a little too modernized.

On the bed Papyrus was lounging, he seemed relaxed but there was a certain tension to his form that told you he could be on his feet faster than you could say “skeleton”, and you were not about to test that. Sans was on the floor in the middle of the room, had he been pacing?

“What do you want?” He sneered scowling hard.

You might have been starring a little too long.

“Alphys called, she wants me down at the station.” You informed shortly not stepping into the room.

Sans’ scowl deepened, his fangs bared. Yikes, maybe you should just have gone on your own.

“Mutt, accompany the human to the station.” He ordered and the way he said _human_ had you almost squirming, it was so filled with anger and disdain. Well if he didn’t hate you before, he might just do so now. You felt some of the sadness from yesterday creep back into your heart.

It took you a moment to realize that you didn’t have the courage to ask if Sans could go with you, but with the way he was glaring at you like he might stab you, you honestly didn’t know which one of the brothers you would be safest with.

You might need extra bodyguards to protect you from your bodyguards.

“Yes, m’lord.” Papyrus answered after several seconds and got up. He clearly didn’t want to go with you either.

Wait.

Mutt? M’Lord? Wait, hadn’t Sans asked you to refer to him as m’lord?

Was this some kind of sick joke?

You didn’t get much time to think about it as Papyrus, no so gently, pushed past you and you closed the door behind you to escape Sans’ death glare. You honestly didn’t understand why he was so upset. You hadn’t even said you had thrown them in the trash. You were confused and a ball of anxiousness was building up in your chest.

It didn’t help that you had to jog down the stairs to keep up with the tall skeleton’s long legs. Not that that mattered.

When you had put on your shoes and jacket you found Papyrus had already left and when you sped outside, you found him rounding a corner further down the street.

What the hell was the point of going to ask him to accompany if he just left you?!

Weren’t he supposed to be watching you?!

You had to run to catch up and even then he always seemed to be several paces ahead of you, never slowing down.

You did however.

After almost a mile of switching in between running and walking in an effort to keep up, you decided to say fuck it. If he was going to be childish, over a pair of horrible burritos nonetheless, you wouldn’t humor him. And your sides hurt from struggling to keep up.

Maybe you should look into working out a little more.

Or maybe your guard should slow down a little?

You caught him looking over his shoulder at you, and then he laughed and picked up speed.

You huffed in annoyance.

No, you really didn’t have any idea how to handle this guy.

Well, at least this gave you a chance to enjoy being outside; when he walked so far ahead it almost made it feel like you were on your own. You breathed in the cold air, felt it bite in your lungs as the sun’s warm rays caressed your skin.

It felt normal.

You saw a few kids here and there leave for school and you thought about how coming back to your school would be like. There would be no hiding the skeleton bodyguard that would accompany you and that was bound to raise some questions. You would have to ask Alphys how much you were allowed to share, especially if the press found out who you were.

That sounded surreal.

You were a little relieved to see that as you drew closer to the center of the city Papyrus actually slowed down a little, always three long strides ahead of you, but close enough to interfere if anything should happen.

Not that you actually believed anything would happen.

The walk took maybe little over an hour, you wondered if the brothers had a car or if you should locate your bus pass, you had thrown it in your backpack as per usual but it was probably at the bottom of said back by now.

The station was, nothing short of busy. Actually, it was over the top busy. Every officer or secretary was milling around, running circles around each other and there were multiple officers who were stationed in front of the entrance as to keep the journalists there at bay.

The news had _really caught fire_.

You walked a little closer to Papyrus.

He didn’t move too far away.

Finding Alphys was pretty easy; you just had to go towards who shouted the most, as she was currently encircled in a small team of officers whom she was lecturing on how to best deal with monsters. It sounded like they were being sent out to question neighbors to the other accidents.

Some of them seemed nervous. A few seemed excited.

The entire station was buzzing with energy.

When Alphys saw you she gave you a curt nod and you stood off to the side to let her finish.

As soon as the officers partnered up and went for the door Alphys was coming your way and you greeted her with a big smile that she matched with her own. She was beaming as she clapped your shoulder maybe a little too hard.

You winced but said nothing.

“Hey kid, good to see you smiling!” She said and you suddenly realized it was the first time she hadn’t seen you covered in dirt and tears. You felt you face flush a little.

“You too Alphys, things sure have picked up, it was hard to get into the station with the press on the front steps.” You said and her smile doubled in size, you honestly wouldn’t have thought it was possible if you hadn’t seen it. She led you two towards her desk that was littered in so much paperwork it was hard to see the wooden top below it.

“I bet, from what I heard a monster who lived at the complex wrote about it online and from there it just caught fire! Everyone are arguing left and right, and to top it all off after a long meeting with the major the chief agreed to hand the case over to me and give me a handful of officers to help me gather information! It’s better than I could have hoped for!” She nearly shouted and you found her energy infectious.

You could hardly stop smiling. They had given her the case, she was the lead investigator, this was grand!

“I’m the first monster detective with a case this big, we’re knocking down walls! Next week, I’m getting an office!” She laughed and you couldn’t sit still in your seat. You honestly couldn’t be happier for her, she was so excited. Papyrus was leaning against the desk behind you, eyeing the people around you warily. He seemed to not be affected by Alphys. You were a little disappointed.

You briefly met his gaze but the next second he turned away, indifferent.

Your smile faltered, right, you had a problem. You tried to cover it back up but one thing you had to hand Alphys. She was smart, and she definitely saw the exchange.

“Hey Papyrus, why don’t you go take a break, I would like to speak with my witness without your fat ass taking up all the space.” She said. You snorted at the unexpectedness of the statement, but then for a moment, you were worried that there might be bad blood between the two of them, until you saw Alphys smile with mirth.

Right, he’s a _skeleton_ , not really possible for him to be fat.

Even Papyrus couldn’t stop the smile this time, an actual smile.

You couldn’t help but stare.

He looked much nicer when he wasn’t glaring at you.

“Yeah, yeah, why don’t you say you just don’t like me?” He said teasingly, fishing a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. Wait, how did that even work?

“Fine, I don’t like you, now get out of my station, you know I will kill you if you smoke in here.” From the way Papyrus chuckled you couldn’t help but feel like this was a normal exchange. Papyrus looked at you for a split second before heading for the door. The moment he left the room, Alphys pounced.

“Spill the beans kid, what’s the matter.”

Your good mood vanished and you felt bad for ruining Alphys’ energy like this. Maybe you should just toughen it out an-

She smiled at you knowingly, something in her eyes softened and you once again could see exactly why she belonged with the police force. She looked like she was born to help people.

You felt like you could tell her anything.

“They hate me.” You flat-out stated and Alphys barked a laugh.

The way she laughed told you she wasn’t buying it or that she had probably expected something like this.

“No, they actually hate me Alphys. I don’t know if this is going to work, Papyrus doesn’t want anything to do with me, and I seriously thought he was going to kill me this morning. Sans tried to cook for me, it was horrible but I tried to tell him gently and he _freaked_. Papyrus got really scary, like he was all up in my face, bared teeth and I honestly thought he might have killed me if Sans hadn’t called him. Neither of them even wants to be in the same room as me.”

You sighed heavily and rested your head in your hand. Seeing Alphys had made the anxiety in your chest shrink but as you recalled the events of this morning.

How had you not freaked out yet?

“I don’t know what to do, it seems like I can’t take a step at home without stepping on someone’s toes.”

Alphys regarded you for a second before shaking her head. “And you’re afraid they might hurt you?” She asked, one brow raised.

And that was the thing. You trusted Alphys to keep you safe, you trusted the Queen when she had told you that you would be safe with the brothers. Everyone told you that they would keep you safe.

But so far they had done nothing to really earn your trust. “I don’t know.” You answered honestly and Alphys smiled softly.

“They don’t hate you. They just, don’t know how to deal with you.” She sniggered suddenly and you felt some of the tension drain away. “Considering how _tactful_ Sans can be, this may come as a surprise but neither Sans nor Papyrus deal a whole lot with humans, especially not friendly ones.” She said and you chuckled, okay that might explain quite a few things.

“Sans is generally pretty bossy and Papyrus is… well hard to figure out. But trust me kid, there’s no place safer than with them and if you respect them they will respect you. They both had kind hearts; you got nothing to be worried about. You guys just need to get past the formalities.” She winked at you and all the anxiousness washed away right like that. So that’s why she didn’t waste much time on formalities.

The real person lied beneath all of that, and you just had to find that.

Maybe you all just, got off on the wrong foot.

It was only your second day with them, there was bound to be some kinks to work out.

You suddenly felt much better.

“Doesn’t change the fact that they’re both upset with me… I hadn’t meant to hurt Sans’ feelings.” You said honestly, you really couldn’t figure how to apologies, but at the same time, you felt like he might owe you and apology for blowing up at you like that. It was fucking burritos.

Okay Papyrus was the one who _really_ owed you an apology, Sans’ ‘ _outburst_ ’ you could ignore but you had been so scared when Papyrus had stood right in front of you. Growling like a wild animal and looking like he wouldn’t think twice about killing you right there.

You shivered.

Yeah, that had been scary.

“Sans will get over it, if I know him right, _which I do_ , then he’s more upset with himself than he is at you.” She said and scribbled down a note. “Show him that you’re not angry with him and things will smooth themselves over, don’t worry.” She seemed so calm when she said that, like he usually acted like this, she had maybe even predicted it, and you just had to take it in strife. Maybe that’s what you needed to do.

Maybe you should take the initiative this time.

Do something for them and show them that you weren’t mad at them and try to get to know them.

You smiled. You could do this.

You both grabbed a coffee as you waited for the artist to arrive and you were pleasantly engaged in small talk about the case, Undyne, how the station needed a new coffee machine or Alphys would personally go hunt the chief down, you had a feeling the chief wasn’t Alphys’ biggest fan, when he pushed his way in through the door.

Alphys got the two of you a small room where you could sit in peace. The artist was good, like really good; this was clearly not the first time he had done this and you were so impressed with the skills he had-

You talked for hours, he had you choosing between several features and didn’t bat an eye when you looked at it and had him change it. You began to get emotional when he had you describing key features.

Especially the scar, you corrected him several times.

 _“It needs to be more to the side, thinner, it’s too high.”_ The artist was very patient and you felt truly helpful, like with every stroke of his pen you would be one step closer to catching the man, and when he showed you the final sketch.

You started to cry. There was no way for you not to, not with all the emotions raging inside you when you looked at it.

He got you a cup of water and a tissue to cry into.

This was him. This was the man who killed your friends.

And you were going to get him.

By the time you were done with the artist and reporting back to Alphys noon had come and gone. Papyrus had returned and he was talking casually with her as you said goodbye to the artist, sketch in hand.

The skeleton was almost sitting on top of her desk, with his long legs you understood if the chairs around were semi-uncomfortable for him. But you took a moment to observe them, he seemed to be in a better mood, well, both of you were and although you couldn’t hear them over all the noise in the room it was clear that they were joking around, laughing and talking.

They seemed to be good friends.

He seemed almost relaxed with her and you found yourself smiling at their energy as you stepped closer. Alphys perked up when you handed her the sketch with a bright smile.

His face went straight onto her board. You were going to catch this guy.

“Well then, that’s really all I needed from you right now. Any questions you wanna ask or do I finally get to leave?” She said faking the dramatically pained expression as if you two coming in had ruined her day and she wanted nothing more than for you to leave. Apparently, Papyrus had this effect on her.

There was something you had to ask about before you left.

“Actually, I’m going back to school soon, Papyrus will be accompanying me, what do I tell people if they ask? Can I talk about the incident?” You asked, you really needed to know. She thought for a little while.

“Tell them it’s none of their business kid, while we don’t have anything to hide, we need to be careful and we don’t want anyone hearing you talk and do something crazy.” She said and you felt your smile tighten. “Also, try and avoid the press, they will definitely want a statement from you but some of them will try and use your words against you.” So much for relief.

Well, at least you got a sketch of the guy.

“Don’t worry Alph, they won’t even _see_ us coming.” Papyrus said then and you raised an eyebrow, what? Alphys shook her head. “Oh no, you will not pull any stunts Rus or so do help me!” She laughed. You were confused but with the energy you felt right now, it didn’t matter.

This felt normal.

You could deal with whatever you had to!

When you left the station you were all in high spirits. Papyrus wasn’t even walking several feet ahead of you anymore, so that was an improvement; maybe Alphys had said something to him? Anyway, you appreciated it.

You’re not entirely sure what happened next, but thinking about it…

There are several things that can make the press go wild. They’re all just looking for the next big piece of information. The next big story. There isn’t anything wrong with that.

But…

When a human walks out of the police station, followed closely by a skeleton monster, whom look ready to kill, right after such a big case goes viral. They have a sixth sense for that sort of thing and they just know there is a connection.

You didn’t even think about it before it was too late.

They were like sharks that just smelled fresh blood.

They went wild.

The noise of several shouts and questions going off it your direction is your only warning and then sudden there was a blur of people all around you, pushing you around like a ragdoll.

What was your name? Your role in the case? Statements? What was your connection with monsters? Your view on the debate?

They were pushing up against you so violently, and flashes blinded you, that you stumbled on the steps, nearly falling over. Luckily for you, the officers at the door stepped in, trying to push them back so a skeletal hand could grab your arm and hoist you back up before you hit the ground.

“So Alph told me I needed to be nicer to you.” He said in a low tone close to your ear. A hand pressed into your back painfully when you didn’t move, forcing you to take a step forward with a yelp and then start to run.

One hand was still gripping your arm but with the way he was painfully pressing a finger into your back you knew he would leave a mark.

He led you forward, away from the crowd who was trying to follow you. The officers held them off for a little while but after they broke away to get to you, they backed off. You looked back and knew there was no way for you to outrun them, you tried to calm your breathing but with the way Papyrus was forcing you to keep running, you simply didn’t have any time.

Suddenly you were yanked into an alley, out of the sun.

You collided hard with something.

You felt warmth embrace you. The smell of pine and cigarettes was all around you and soft fur tickled your nose. You barely had time to register how close Papyrus held you before you saw how he was smirking down at you. A dark look in his eyes. You felt your eyes widening.

Your heart stood still.

He definitely noticed.

He bared his fangs, his look predatorily.

“So let’s play _nice_.   
You might wanna hang on tight, _darling_.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who left a comment last chapter! It was a difficult chapter but i am so very proud of it!
> 
> Now, I know, there is a hell of a lot of inconsistency in Papyrus’ character in this one, but don’t worry, everything will be explained in the next one! (Especially since I’m dedicating that chapter entirely to Papyrus’ character and sucking up to Sans. We’ll see how it goes xD)
> 
> Oh god, I am so excited for you guys to be reading the next few chapters, they’re going to be awesome!!  
> Also, guess who's finally started on the companion fic! It's going to be answering A LOT of questions!
> 
> Also, I decided to go right on ahead an make a blog for this fic and other undertale fics I'm planning!! You can find it here and your most welcome to stop y and ask anything!  
> https://skeletasticnews.tumblr.com/


	5. Honestly who hurt you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus if you could not be a dick for 5 seconds this would all be much easier...

What happened next both shocked and terrified you.

The world around you went dark as if you got swallowed up by a huge nothingness. You saw your hair start to float upwards before you felt the shift and you immediately started struggling. You felt like you were floating, but also falling at the same time, but you were falling into complete darkness. You felt yourself start to panic, you breathing coming out in quick pants. There were no sounds though, no light but you could see fine. Which went against everything you knew about science. It also felt like time was slowing down but also moving incredibly fast. You felt sick.

It was like a nightmare, but you were wide awake. So there was no waking up.

And then you looked up at the two eye sockets staring back at you with a somewhat calculating expression. He was observing you.

He still held you close but his body seemed frozen like it was placed there and all of this falling and floating and shifting was only happening to you. You felt fear sting as you looked back at him. It was like he was testing you, an experiment of some sort.

But you also noted that he was completely calm, there was no fear or shock. This was his doing. Your heart leaped in your chest as you held onto him for dear life.

If he was this calm then there was nothing to be afraid of, you told you confused mind and tried to calm yourself. Yes, use reason. _Or at the very least there was nothing you could do_. it was out of your hands right now but nothing would happen, or Papyrus too would be freaking out.

It worked a little, but only a little. You gripped his sleeves harder as you took a breath, steeling yourself, forcing yourself to breathe. And as you exhaled slowly, you found that it actually wasn’t that bad. It was like being on a rollercoaster, a very terrifying one, but a rollercoaster nonetheless.

Papyrus’ eyes narrowed. Like he saw something he didn’t expect and he didn’t like it or at least didn’t know what to think of it.

And in the next moment, you were on the ground. Just you and Papyrus in an alley, nothing weird. That sounded better in your head a second ago.

But then…

Everything crushed down on you so fast and so hard that you felt like you might fall over. Like gravity had just taken you for a trip to the moon and back and you were a millisecond away from losing your footing. But there was a feeling of nausea in your stomach you couldn’t ignore and almost panicky you managed to turn around, support yourself enough against the wall behind you to bend over, and somehow not fall over, as you greeted the content of your stomach.

Everything around you was swimming, your vision felt blurry.

You might just fall over yet.

Papyrus pushed himself away from you and you couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, ashamed, despite this being his doing. You heard something that resembled a chuckle and felt tears sting in your eyes. You could barely keep yourself standing... and he was laughing at you.

You felt betrayed.

“What the hell was that?” You asked, your voice a little higher than you intended. You stumbled over your feet as you looked around. You were in an ally, but not the same one you had literally just entered only a few seconds earlier or you thought it had been seconds you honestly didn’t know.

A minute or so after you felt your head stop spinning.

“Just a party trick sweetheart, what’s the matter? You look a little pale.” He said, looking you straight in the eyes as he had the gall to smirk at your misery.

No matter what Alphys could have told you, you felt hate start to grow. It was an angry, clammy feeling and you sent a glare that mirrored all of this. He said nothing. And you realized at that moment, that you should not trust him. Ever. He would rather see you fail, would rather see you suffer than help you.

You felt tears start to fall if he cared he didn’t let it show. You righted yourself, pulling your jacket tightly around you as you stormed past him. You didn’t want to look at him, didn’t want him to look at you. You didn’t care if he followed you as he was supposed to, as a matter of fact, you’d rather if he didn’t. All that mattered to you was putting a lot of distance between you and him.

You felt several sobs rake through you and hoped he couldn’t tell, casting a glance over your shoulder you saw he was gone.

Good riddance.

* * *

 

He had to step away.

He felt sick to his very core, like if he didn’t turn away if he didn’t stop looking at her he would break. This wasn’t in his nature. But what he wanted and what he had to do was two different things.

He and Sans had both agreed that they would not pursue her, no matter how much their instincts told them to. He knew it was going to be difficult having her live with them, he knew that their instincts, his especially, would jump at the chance at protecting her, his soul would see it as a form of bond.

And he couldn’t allow that to form.

He chuckled darkly at the irony of it all.

It was not uncommon to deny the call of a soulmate, it was a strategic move, and it was smart because having a soulmate meant having a weakness.

There was no doubt that you were being patient with them, you were being a _saint_ , that you were subconsciously trying to form a bond with them. You wanted to make things easier, of course you did. But he needed you to stop trying, or he would give in at the chance to grow closer to you. So he had to do this, so that you wouldn't accidentally grow close to either of them. 

But that did not make it any less difficult.

He was doing this to her. It was clear she was trying to hide that she was crying, it was clear that she was disgusted with him. But he steeled himself.

Getting to live with her, getting to protect her, was so nice, so pleasing to his soul. It was not spoken about in public, but monsters were more animalistic than humans. Being so in tune with their souls meant that they had to be, they were still people with hopes and dreams and passions, much more than a simple animal, but some people still didn’t see that.

He still felt the warmth of her on his hands. Her smell clear in his nose, sweet and fresh, _she had used Sans’ soap_ , he thought as he smiled. He had not been surprised when she had panicked in his arms, he had meant to scare her with his shortcut after all. He had observed her carefully, reading her like an open book when fear had set in. But then something strange had happened. She had looked at him, observing him the same way he had her and… he had felt her relax in his embrace. In that instance, she had chosen to believe that he would not hurt her. She had chosen to trust him, despite being afraid.

He had expected her to scream, to thrash and fight him. He wished she would have slapped him so he would feel better about it all. At least then he might not feel so guilty. _So disgusting._

It had been everything his soul had wanted, and he had felt it skip a beat at the welcoming reaction to his magic, to his person.

Now he just felt… awful.

She hurried past him, not wanting to look at him. It stung. He didn’t know if he would go after you, not when you looked at him like that. He decided that he would give you space, watch you from afar, he was not about to leave you alone, not when he had a job to do. But for both of your sake, he would keep his distance.

Just until his soul stopped thrumming for violently in his chest anyway.

“At least it seemed to have worked…” He said to himself, chuckling bitterly.

* * *

 

You had been able to stop crying a little while ago. Walking helped and you had pretty much just begun walking without any thought of direction. You were closer to the skeletons’ house than before, but you were not going back to that minefield of a house. Not yet.

Papyrus had disappeared and while you were happy to be rid of him you were even angrier that he had abandoned you. You felt like the whole point of you having a bodyguard was... well to be guarded and honestly, you might as well have not had any at this point, as a matter of fact, with how your emotional state was right now you might have been better off without.

You pulled up your hoodie, not wanting to deal with people anymore. You had been so relieved when you had talked with Alphys, you had actually believed that you could work this out with the brothers.

Now you just felt like a complete fool.

No matter, you would just do without. You entertained briefly the option of calling Alphys and tell her what happened. You probably would at some point anyway. You felt like she was the only one trying to protect you.

Your thoughts taking a darker turn was interrupted by the sound of your stomach grumbling angrily, you hadn’t had anything but toast, right.

You came to a stop in front of a Café. _La Belle_ , it was a cozy place and taking a quick peek inside you saw that they served monsters. You deemed it as a safe zone until otherwise proven. Now you just hoped they had something quick and cheap.

Damn, despite how hungry you were now you were surprised you hadn’t felt it at all.

You settled for a sandwich and a quick drink. There weren’t a lot of people, seemed like the lunch rush had just passed, so you sat by the window looking out at the people passing by.

What to do, what to do?

You had felt so elevated earlier, so hopeful and strong. Then Papyrus had happened, you could hardly believe he would be that mean to you, were the skeletons really that hateful towards humans? Just who had hurt them?  One thing was for sure, you would keep your distance to Papyrus, there was no reason to subjugate yourself to his bullying and if he wouldn’t back off? You didn’t even feel bad about thinking about telling Alphys, knowing damn well that the police detective would break him in two if she found out.

On second thought maybe you should tell her now.

You chuckled at the thought. But she probably had a lot to take care off, you thought as you saw a police car roll by. You would deal with it for now. Then there was Sans… You honestly didn’t know what to think about him. He had reacted so strongly at breakfast, it was like he was hurting from what you had said before you had said it, but you hadn’t really said anything mean. Was it possible that he _knew_ that his cooking was bad? Papyrus had had to tell him, right?

Then again with the way the taller brother had reacted like he didn’t want Sans to know, maybe he hadn’t told him.

You felt a bit sorry for Sans. How was he supposed to get better if he didn’t know what was wrong? But then again maybe you were reading too much into the situation.

_“…he’s more upset with himself than he is at you.”_

But then again, maybe not.

You made a mental note to always be honest with Sans, he would appreciate it in the end. Maybe…maybe you could even cook together at one point. Well, when he wasn’t upset anymore. Yikes, it really felt like you were walking on eggshells. But at least you were so busy focusing on them, that the whole ordeal with fire was feeling _numb, surreal, like a nightmare._

You wondered how Hunter and Lucilla were holding up, hoping that they had it better than you did, maybe you could go to see them soon, Alphys would know where they went.

You sighed heavily. This constant struggling was proving to be nothing short of exhausting and you were pretty upset that this was the hand you had been dealt. Why could it not just be easy? There were so many _what if’s_ and _maybe’s_ and unknown factors and it was proving to be impossible to keep track of.

Then there was the thing about the teleportation.

You had been terrified, you had not consented to it and Papyrus had been a real asshole about it.

Papyrus had actually broken the law by teleporting you, there was a serious ban on using magic in public, the fees starting around 1000$, and using magic on humans were reasonable cause to straight up arresting the offending monster. Even if it was just playing or a joke, if anyone reported it, the monster would be in serious trouble.

You could get him arrested for that. Of course, there would be no way for him to actually say otherwise or avoid it _since he didn’t really have rights_. And it _had_ been so that you would avoid the press. You got a bad taste in your mouth, despite everything, you would never do that to him. He might be a jerk, but you were not.

It had been kind of cool though. Scary at first, but when you had managed to calm down enough to dwell on the strange sensation, it had been nice. Standing in endless darkness where you could see but there was no light and time seemed to stand still. Of course, you didn’t know if any of that was true, but that’s how it felt.

You kind of wanted to try again… not that you would ever ask him, or allow him to just use his magic on you like that again.

Nope, not happening.

You had never been opposed to magic, the Ruthdales kids were quite happy to let you watch as they practiced and you had _jumped_ at the chance, _every time_ , much to Kale’s amusement.

You smiled at the memory. They had put such trust in you…

 _Don’t think about it._ You wondered what sort of things Sans could do, he had been second-in-command of the royal guard, so he had to be quite strong, maybe he could summon a weapon? Or teleport like his brother?

You smiled at the possibilities.

Magic was awesome.

You checked your phone. 5 missed calls and several texts, all from your parents.

Well, you would have to start talking at some point. You typed out a long message, a _long_ one. You needed them to understand that you were _fine_ but you weren’t going anywhere. You understood why they worried and you were a little worried too but you had been provided with _police protection_. You knew none of the skeletons were with the police but your parents really didn’t need to know that the police had tried to frame you. So you twisted the truth a little and to be fair, Alphys had provided the protection, and _she was with the police_.

You told them you loved them and asked that they tried not to worry too much.

Christmas was only a little while away, you would have to ask Alphys but hopefully, you could go see them then.

Taking a breath you managed a small smile. _You could do this._

When you left the café the sun was hanging low in the sky, not quite sundown yet but the sky was a breathtaking blue... And Papyrus was leaning against the wall beside the entrance. You hadn’t even seen him through the window at all.

But then again he could teleport so he could just have popped up.

You instantly scowled.

You spared him a single glance before you walked the other way. You were still very much angry at him, and you made sure he knew it. You would not be made a fool of like that again.

_Prick._

He made sure to walk directly behind you, tension hung in the air. You felt your annoyance grow.

He came closer. For every block you walked he got closer to you until he, at last, was walking right beside you, you gave him a dirty look and quickened your steps, just like he had done when you first had gone out.

He made no further attempts at walking beside you.

You actually managed to get quite a few paces ahead of him. You were halfway home when you saw a small grocery store at the corner of an intersection. Well, it was nice to know there was one close by if you ever needed anything.

Wait.

You remember the fridge being practically empty.

You remember Sans can’t cook to save his life and you have a fairly good idea the terror-of-a-person behind you would not be cooking either. That left you.

But would it be inappropriate if you cooked? You hadn’t really had a decent meal at their house yet, maybe you should cook anyway, at least to make sure you got _something_ to eat.

_"They both had kind hearts; you got nothing to be worried about. You guys just need to get past the formalities.”_

Alphys words echoed in your head. While you weren’t so sure she was right about Papyrus, you figured you would at the very least let Sans get the benefit of the doubt. He had been stern and a ‘ _little_ ’ hostile… But he hadn’t given you any reason to hate him. He had cooked for you, it was a terrible attempt, but he had tried and he also let you break his rules when you had been upset, and you actually thought that was rather nice of him.

Yeah, you would not let that dickhead ruin Sans’ chance.

With your mind made up, you ducked into the store, not seeing the disgusted glare the clerk sent your guard’s way as he followed after you.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” He asked coming up behind you. Did he sound guarded and somehow unimpressed? How did he even do that? You ignored him, there was no way you would engage with him if he insisted on being a fucking jerk to you. You saw him sneer out of the corner of your eye and couldn’t help but grin in satisfaction. _You reap what you sow buddy._

Grabbing your phone you paused with a shopping basket in one hand and a good idea on your mind. Yes, you knew just what to make!

* * *

 

When you finally got home Sans was nowhere to be found and a not on the fridge told you that he had gone on patrol. Patrol? Did he even have a job? You hadn’t actually asked either of them if they worked, Sans had just stated that they both were _overly busy_. But he never elaborated.

You shrugged it off and put down the groceries.

Papyrus hadn’t carried anything, which was mostly because you had grabbed everything and stormed out without looking back, not even giving him the chance to help. Not that you thought for a second he would.

But you were currently making a statement. And if his constant glaring was any indication, he had noticed.

Funny enough, you had expected him to wander off to somewhere else or ignore you fully. Instead, he took a seat at the dinner table and stared very intensely as you got to work. Figuring out where everything was on your own proved difficult but there was no way you were going to ask the man behind you.

You had decided on lasagna, it was easy, everyone liked it and it was quick and cheap to make. And most importantly, you knew you wouldn’t fuck it up.

You put on some music to help distract you from the glare on your back and it wasn’t long before the house started to smell wonderfully of the Italian cuisine. You sent a thought to your mom for demanding that you cooked every once in a while, while you lived at home.

You heard the front door open just as you took the lasagna out of the oven. Well, that was incredible timing. It only took the other skeleton half a second to peek his head into the kitchen holding a, surprised, puzzled, you couldn’t quite tell, expression.

You smiled at him. Time to show him that you weren’t holding a grudge.

“Hey! I made dinner.” You announced and went through several cupboards to find plates. Sans didn’t say anything but you did see him eye his brother with a curious but guarded expression. You felt like they had a secret convocation, one you were missing a lot of crucial information to understand.

The moment you all sat down you felt nervous. Papyrus looked angry, like legit pissed off, he said nothing though and the piece he took for himself was put down with such force some landed on the table beside him.

_That dude needed to calm down._

Sans looked… well, he looked nervous. He took only a small slice. He was eying the food cautiously and you wondered if he thought you would have done something to it to get back at him for this morning.

You quickly took a slice yourself and you made sure to quickly take a bite mumbling something about being _very hungry_.

Sans visibly relaxed.

 _“Adequate.”_  The verdict went and considering how one wasn’t talking to you and the other didn’t know how to deal with humans, you thought that was a pretty decent score. Mission accomplished.

Of course…

You chose not to comment when both the brothers reached for seconds, _and then thirds_. A little more than adequate apparently. You couldn’t help but smile into your own food at the thought. Sans seemed to relax and by the end of dinner he was talking and talking and talking and you figured that he just liked to talk a lot. Not that you really minded, you didn’t feel like bringing today’s _adventure_ up just yet.

He was completely different from the skeleton you met with this morning.

It made you smile as you engaged with him. It was the first time you felt like you could really smile around him. You even laughed when he told you about an old Snowdin patrol squad that he had gone to check up on today and how they used to build snow prisons, out of snow, for actual prisoners… Obviously, this didn’t work out very well.

Luckily for them, the magnificent, terrible Sans was there to set them straight and show them how it was done. He admitted they weren’t the smartest bunch.

_Oh, how tragic it would have been if he hadn’t been there!_

You could tell that he was definitely making himself out to be better, exaggerating facts here and there. You found out that despite changing some facts to make the story more _epic_ , Sans had quite the knack for compelling story-telling.

You called them cute; something that made the smile the small skeleton was sporting turn softer.

Papyrus only glared harder.

You smiled brightly at him, for the first time that evening. You could be two at playing this game, and you were about done letting him be a dick to you.

 _Bring it on bone-boy_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, guys I know this is getting difficult to read and a bit angsty!! So now where we have all the important facts (I think so??) and whatever I think it’s high time to start making reader’s life more bearable!!
> 
> There’s gonna be one chapter soon where everything blows up but we need a break, right? Everything considered I think we’re long overdue for a break!
> 
> For those yet unaware, I have now officially made a companion fic called Just go Left Dammit, and it only has one chapter so far but that chapter is Sans’ point of view when meeting reader!


	6. What could possibly go wrong?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You finally go back to school!

After that night you found yourself cooking pretty often, not all the time because Sans would, every now and then, insist that you all were in need of having your standard raised by his excellence. His cooking didn’t seem to get much better but after giving up on another pair of burritos, right in front of him and seeing his eyes fall like you had just kicked him, you would make rounds to take his attempts out of the oven or off the stove before it caught fire, _and_ you found that hiding the vinegar and chili was an excellent way of preventing him from using it.

None of you commented on it or really said anything. He knew he was bad and you didn’t feel for rubbing it in his face, especially not since he was such a proud person. And you imagined that he appreciated that. It was like a silent agreement you had. You would just hope he picked up on how the food changed when he didn’t use some of his favorite techniques. And from the way, you suddenly started to be able to eat it and Papyrus usually asked for seconds, he was rather enjoying the change.

So in that regard, his food got more edible.

You and Papyrus… You were still not talking, you weren’t flat-out ignoring the lanky skeleton anymore, but you weren’t besties either. Far from, actually.  You would only really see him when eating or when he was asked to accompany you somewhere, both something he seemed bothered by.

You got the feeling that looking at your face was simply something that bothered him.

Sans had been rather unnerved the first couple of days after the incident, he had instantly sensed that something was out of place and had out-right demanded to know what had happened, to which, both you and Papyrus, said he would have to ask the other party.

Now, that would go down as well as you would imagine. As in going down with Sans screaming at the both of you, and you ended up hiding out in your room almost calling Alphys. Exactly why hadn’t you called her yet? You honestly didn’t know yourself…maybe…maybe some part of you just wanted to, even if your brain told you it was bullshit…Some part of you believed that this was not what it seemed…

_Now that’s just foolish._

Sans didn’t really gun for you, thankfully, but Papyrus met a lot of heat the next few days.

At some point, Papyrus must have broken down and talked because one morning Papyrus didn’t join you for breakfast and Sans seemed more agitated than usual. You were absolutely sure that they had had a fight. You simply couldn’t figure out what else might have happened.

For several days afterward just about all interaction between the brothers stopped. You would barely see Papyrus and since Sans was busy most of the time that meant you were confined to the house. Not that you wanted to be around Sans at this point, he was being overly standoffish and uncaring, only looking like he regretted his cold demeanor when you got visibly upset.

So it was bad on all fronts.

It actually upset you quite a bit seeing them like that. As much as you wanted Papyrus to get in trouble for his actions it just didn’t seem right. They seemed so close like they always had each other’s back and somehow you had managed to pit them against each other and you didn’t even know _why_.

You honest to god couldn’t figure it out, they were acting like you had killed their grandmother when in reality you had, been honest and demanded to be treated right? Yeah, that was actually it. That was your crime.

It was that thought that kept you from pleading Papyrus’ case and try and make the brothers start talking again. With the way Papyrus was treating you, you found it was more Sans you felt sorry for. That he had to deal with his brother’s crap like this. It made you angry to see Sans upset, even if he was taking it out on you, it was not alright.

But then something changed… again. You’re 100 % sure that Papyrus had said something horrible about you and suddenly Sans was back to his old self from when you had just moved in. Snarky, commanding and generally just being a real bastard, but only towards you.

Papyrus was off the hook and he had smiled so _sweetly_ at you when you had finally seen him again and you just _knew_ that this was his doing.

You felt your hate for him grow.

All bad thoughts and naïve sympathy from early gone.  A fire in you grew stronger, not really knowing what it was or why it was there, but something in you told you to fight fire with fire. If he was going to be petty about this, so were you.

* * *

 

Despite all the craziness, you found yourself settling into a routine, and normalcy found its way back to you while you were silently fighting your housemates. You were somehow surprised at how no matter how stressful it had been to move in and start living with the boys, you could still fall into a routine.

You still got upset, sometimes out of nowhere, some days you were almost too tired to get out of bed and not leaving the house seemed just fine to you on those days. Other times you got restless, feeling like you were going out of your mind and on those days you dragged Papyrus out to take a walk as you tried to calm your mind. Some days he would cuss you out but on others, those where your heart felt like it might beat out of your chest and you felt sick and _really bad_ , on those days he said nothing.

And today?

Today was a special day.

Your bag was packed, your phone charged, you were practically vibrating in excitement. You were ready.

The entirety of the week the brothers had been against you going out on the most part and as time seemed to stretch on you found yourself immensely bored or trapped inside your own head with thoughts that was anything but kind.

But at least today you would get out.

You started back in school today. And not anything in the world would stop you.

You bounced down the stairs, looking yourself over in the mirror in the entryway, deeming your appearance alright, before making your way into the kitchen.

Breakfast had become this almost sacred time. You found that Papyrus was anything but a morning person and was rather groggy in the morning, he even fell asleep on the table most of the time, and you were fairly certain Sans wasn’t an actual person until he had his coffee, he was _unpleasant,_ to say the least. Snarky and salty, you wondered if he had mistaken the sugar for salt and just poured a fuck-ton of it into his coffee.

Maybe you should hide the salt too.

You giggled to yourself and ducked when said skeleton shot you a glare. It was clearly too early for giggling in his opinion.

So none of you really spoke in the morning, not that you minded, it was the only real time you all had a truce. You would usually just sit across from them right where the sun would peek in through the window.  You always took a moment just to bask in the sun, even if it was rising later every day, charging up for the day. It was actually one of your favorite moments of the day, this small gap of peace and quiet.

Sans didn’t eat breakfast but most of the time he was deadest on cooking for both you and Papyrus.

There wasn’t exactly a lot of ways for you to save _that_ meal, but sometimes when you managed to get up before him, Sans was usually the first one up so it was rarely, you could usually make yourself some toast or something and that way get out of eating Sans attempt at breakfast.

Papyrus always glared at you when he saw this but you always greeted the glare with a smile.

He was still insisting on being a prick.

Papyrus could suffer on his own.

No such luck today though, you had spent too much time getting ready for getting back into the real world, to make it downstairs before Sans and so you were forced by your own manners to at least try what he had cooked up for you.

Some of it was actually edible today; you were in luck it seems.

You ate whatever was edible on your plate and left the rest of it. Sans scowled when he saw but made no further comment on it, even if his eyes were saying everything for him. You eyed Papyrus out of the corner of your eye and saw that he was catching the last few minutes he could before you had to leave. Well, at least he couldn’t give you the stink eye over it.

Sans folded the day’s paper and emptied his cup.

“So…” He said as he intertwined his fingers onto of the table. He looked like he was about to interagate you and you couldn’t help but smile, your giddy mood making you more energetic than usual. There was a flicker in Sans’ eyes before he sighed and continued. “I trust that I won’t have to tell you that Papyrus will be accompanying you and you are not allowed to go anywhere without him.” He sneered. You felt your mood falter slightly as your hands got sweaty at the glare he sent you. You hadn’t even done anything yet. But this was _your_ day, and you were not giving up on it that easily!

“I know.” You said, proud at yourself for keeping your voice steady, well you were getting plenty of practice. “We’ll come home if there’s any sign of danger, you don’t have to worry.” You assured him with an easy smile, his scowl deepened.

“I am not worried.” He hissed.

Why did anything involving Sans have to be difficult?

“Worried about your reputation I meant! And honestly Sans you might want to enforce that whole _‘stay close to us’_ thing with Papyrus, since he’s the one who ups and leaves.” You said back, mimicking the hardness of his tone but still making it sound joking at the end.

You stood up to leave, making the chair drag sharply over the floor. You left the room just as Sans shouted after you but you ignored him. He was not ruining this day for you, this was a shot for normalcy and you were taking it. You smiled at yourself, yes, you were definitely taking it!

Not wanting to waste any time, or meet up with Sans again, you quickly grabbed your bag by the stairs and jumped into your shoes when you reached the front door. “Papyrus, I’m leaving now!” You yelled out for him as you swung your jacket on and closed it tightly, it was getting really cold outside now.

You heard a grunted affirmative before Sans started telling him to get up and stop being so lazy. You rolled your eyes. Honestly who cared if he followed you or not, it was more of a precaution than anything else. With that in mind, you walked outside and shut the door behind you.

The chilling breeze greeted you by blowing a cold gust of wind in your face and you shuffled in place before making your way towards the bus stop. You had asked the brothers what your options for transportation was and learnt that while Sans had a motorcycle, that he would **_not_** have your germs on, Papyrus mostly just teleported everywhere, he had winked at you when he had informed you of that and he looked way to smug for your taste. So, since you were not the biggest fan of his party trick, or his personality, you opted for the bus, much to the skeletons displeasure.

That had sparked yet another argument. One wherein you had to calmly sit down and tell the brothers that were was no way in hell you would allow Papyrus to teleport you anywhere unless it was a strictly a life-or-death situation.

Papyrus had started to mock you, his grin possibly shit-eating, but you had found that one good way to shut him down instantly was to simply walk away.

However, one might find it hard to walk away from monsters that can teleport, you definitely found it rather difficult. Even now as you neared the bus stop you couldn’t stop yourself from scowling deeply as you saw the very hell-spawn casually leaning against the stop as if he always been there.

You bristled but ignored him as you stood to wait.

One breaths, two breaths. You heard Papyrus inhale at your side. What insult would he throw at you today you wondered?

Luckily you didn’t have to wait to figure out because not even a heartbeat later you saw the bus approach and stepped forward.

Papyrus trailed behind you as you took a seat by the other door. You promptly ignored the stares sent your way, you were too used to it after living in the monster area for so long. Papyrus shuffled into the seat beside you and you actually looked up at him. You had expected him to sit somewhere else.

After the teleportation incident he hadn’t touched or gotten in your space at all, so for him to sit next to you was… weird.

But as your eyes moved up over his face you saw a deep frown had settled and he was scanning the bus with a glare that promised pain and death. What was up with that?

You didn’t say anything as you observed him glare at every person who got on but you did see how most sent an even deadlier glare right back at him or shuffled away to a far off seat scared.

Papyrus was a rather intimidating monster, especially when he was glaring like he was right now, but he wasn’t _that_ bad? The moment the thought registered it dawned on you that this was the effect of the separation between humans and monsters and the continuing hate between them. You swallowed hard.

Papyrus looked like he was ready for a fight and with the tension in the air, he might get it. However as more and more people pilled in, there was little room for something like that and even though the skeleton beside you looked rather uncomfortable with having so many humans close to his person, since the two of you were right in the middle of the bus, you were happy at the missed opportunity for him to take a swing at someone.

When you arrived at your school the looks got even worse and a lot pf people didn’t even bother to not look like they were talking about you when they leaned away to whisper to their friends. Great, now you felt uncomfortable, not that Papyrus looked much better.

You took a deep breath and told yourself it didn’t matter as you found your first class.

Coming back to school was strange, you tried not to think of how, little the incident had affected others when it had affected _you_ so much, meanwhile, you were dodging questions left and right about your skeletal companion, questions both from other students but also from prying teachers.

Luckily Papyrus decided that it was _your_ problem, at least he didn’t make it worse, and sat down in the back of the class where he leaned back and…fell asleep? This guy was utterly frustrating to deal with.

Even more meanwhile you figured out that missing two-three weeks of schoolwork and lectures was simply devastating and you had **_no_** idea what was going on anymore. You groaned as you started writing down everything that you needed to read up on to catch up again.

And that was how each of your classes went, seemingly on repeat, up until lunch where you finally got room to breathe. A lot of people, especially people you had never talked to before, asked you about Papyrus and “ _hey you live near a lot of monsters don’t you?_ ”, you found the sudden attention rather nerve-wrecking and taking Alphys’ _“It’s none of their business”_ to heart your kept you answers vague.

You eye Papyrus, who stood at the door to the canteen as you stood in line, he seemed to be on guard then there was a big crowd like this, and while he had done his duty and kept close all day, he seemed hesitant to navigate the sea of students. Not that you blamed him, but you did feel a bit sorry for him.

You got two sandwiches and some water before slipping outside to sit at one of the benches there much to the skeleton’s relief. It was a bit cold, but still a better option than the overfilled canteen.

You didn’t have a lot of friends at school, just a few people that you worked well with most of the time and that suited you just fine as you and your lanky companion took the bench for yourself. Papyrus fished out a cigarette in silence, he had been so quiet all day and so on guard, most of the time it was subtle but he seemed more tense than usually.

You held out one of the sandwiches for him and he stared at while he took a drag. Something in his expression softened, but not in the good way and you knew from your time living with the hell-spawn that he was gonna run his smart mouth, _again_.

“I really don’t care about what you want to say, please just take it before I change my mind.” You said flatly and waved the piece of food in a _hurry-up_ manner.

Papyrus only stared a moment longer, casually blowing out the smoke as he finally took it. Something shifted in you as he held your eyes for a beat and his features softened further allowing him to sport an actual smile.

_He really did look nice when he smiled._

“Awww, looks like the human does have a heart after all!” He said mockingly and bit into his food. You bristled.

_Oh, he could go to hell!_

You flipped him off as he chuckled!

“I see you’re still as charming as ever… tell me something though, are you always such an idiot? Or do you just show off when I’m around?” You resorted. You looked up as that actually shut him up for a moment. Was he just expecting you to keep ignoring his remarks forever?

You almost felt proud at yourself!

Until you saw him get a spark in his eye.

You felt your heart speed up but surprisingly enough you didn’t feel the same fear for him that you had been harboring for the past weeks. Why could you never figure him out?

He took another bite and his smile widened for a moment. “I guess you can say it takes one to know one honey.” He said and you glared at him.

“Oh fuck off!” You shot back just in time to hear the bell.

The rest of the day went well enough, you still didn’t get what was going on but at least you had written down everything that you needed to read up on and a few of your classmates were very helpful to provide links or tell you were to get the new book you were supposed to read. They were very friendly considering that Papyrus usually would inch closer by then since the class had ended.

The bus was pretty packed as you headed home and you both had to stand. Papyrus was even more on edge with this as he was when he had been seated, and after he had literally growled at someone, luckily the bus was too loud for most to notice and you did elbow him in the rib. He shot you a dirty look, one you mirrored right back at him before stepping around him so that you were closest to your fellow students and Papyrus was pressed up against the window.

It did however seem to calm him enough until most of the people had gotten off and he breathed a sigh.

None of you mentioned that you were more of a bodyguard than he was.

None of you mentioned that you had just stepped between him and a possible threat.

None of you mentioned how your back was pressed to his side in the cramped space, or how his hand had grabbed your wrist, ready to whisk you away if there was a need.

And you certainly didn't mention how your hate for him seemed to dwindle as your heart skipped a beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing went wrong :)
> 
> For now.
> 
> Haha thank you guys so much for reading!! I know this one took a long while to get out but I'm super busy with work! I am working on the next chapter already, so enjoy!


End file.
